The Rising Tides
by Reddevel360
Summary: What if Luffy accessed his Haki before Shanks arrived and ate a different fruit then the Gomu Gomu no Mi and Shanks and Benn decided to take him along to the Grandline to train him for 5 years? Watch a smarter, stronger Luffy with the power of the Mizu Mizu no Mi emerges to become the Pirate King. Luffy x Robin Possible Luffy x Robin x Boa Other side pairings.
1. The Journey Begins

The Rising Tide

"Speaking"

' _Thoughts_ '

*Actions or noises*

' **Attacks'**

I don't own One Piece

* * *

(Dawn island – Fuusha Village – East Blue)

"Ha that didn't hurt at all!" A little voice shouted

"Be quiet you were crying the whole time…" a more laid back voice replied

"Was not!" The miniature voice returned

"Was too"

"Was not!"

"Was too"

The immature people having this argument were a small 7 year old boy who had a black messy hair, shorts and a shirt which read 'anchor'. Next to him sat and older man with red hair and a straw hat. This was Monkey D Luffy and 'Red Haired' Shanks. They were sitting in Party's Bar along with Shanks's crew the Red Hair pirates. By now the whole bar was focused solely on them….and they found this quite amusing.

"Was not"

"Was too" they continued…

"You'd think being a captain he would be more mature…" said Benn Beckman, Shanks's first mate

"But this is quite amusing to watch though" replied Yassop the crew's Sniper

"Mmmhm" commented Lucky while eating his meat.

"QUIET" shouted and angry bartender called Makino hitting both Luffy and Shanks over the head.

"owww…" quietly mumbled both shanks and Luffy rubbing their heads. The whole bar just burst out laughing.

"STOP LAUGHING!" both Luffy and Shanks shouted, this only increased the laughter coming from the pirates.

Eventually the laughter died down and the crew returned to their usual din of talk, laughing, and drinking.

"Why not Shanks?" whined Luffy with a pout

"Well for a start you're too young and small and as an added bonus you can't swim anchor" said Shanks using Luffy's most hated nickname.

"Humph" the child crossed his arms and turned away, eyes closed and his nose in the air. He suddenly grew a mischievous grin. "Tomato hair…" Luffy's grin grew.

"Huh? What did you call me?" Shakes asked turning to Luffy

"I called you tomato hair or are you going deaf in your old age?" Luffy chuckled to himself

"Bwhahahahahahah" the crew somehow heard this line of conversation and started a new round of laughing.

"Hahahahahahahaha…Tomato hair never heard that one before, and from a 7 year old no less hahahahah!" exclaimed Benn. The crew heard this and just laughed harder.

"SHUT UP" shouted Shanks grumping in the corner of the bar while Luffy giggled maliciously, even Makino joined in this time.

"Heheheheh, I'm going tell this to the village!" and with that Luffy ran out the bar shouting things about Tomato haired pirates

"Ugh," sinking further into his seat "I'm never going to live this down am I?" Shanks asked no one in particular.

"NOPE" replied his crew bursting into laughter once more during the time.

"There, There Captain…" Makino said patting Shanks on the head lightly "If it's any use I like the colour of your hair, I think it's very nice…" For the record both Makino and Shanks blushed at this action.

*BAM* the door to the bar smashed open and in walked some mountain bandits walked in.

"So these are the pathetic pirates that docked here" the lead bandit said, obviously the leader.

"Wench" Looking at the bar, or specifically Makino. "Me and my men would like 5 barrels of sake. Give them to us and we won't destroy the place."

"Sorry I'm all out of sake" replied Makino her eyes fixed upon the Bandit leader.

"Well what are these pirates drinking then? Juice?" questioned the Bandit

"Sorry, looks like we drank all the booze."Cut in Shanks. He grabbed and unopened bottle and held it up to the Bandit. "Here you can have this it's not open."

The bandit, enraged, smashed the bottle with his sword sending glass and sake all over Shanks soaking him and the bar. The bandit then proceeded to swipe his sword along the counter scattering empty bottles, glasses and plates across the floor. "See this?" The bandit asked, holding his wanted poster up. 'WANTED – DEAD OR ALIVE – HIGUMA THE BEAR – 8,000,000 beri. "I'm a wanted man, I'm not gonna waste my time on a bunch of weaklings like you." An arrogant smirk plastered on his face. "Later losers" he said walking out of the bar his troupe following out laughing all the way.

Silence followed for and few seconds before the whole bar exploded in laughter again. You'd think some would be passed out by now the amount of laughing these guys did.

When the laughter died down they realized that Luffy had joined them and was sitting next to shanks again, he had just finished swallowing something and shuddered in what was obviously distaste. "What was that all about" he questioned Shanks after his shivering episode stopped.

"Oh some puny bandits wanted to pick a fight." Shanks replied after regaining his breath.

"Ah, did you win?" he questioned once more

"No we didn't bother they were too weak to put up a fight so there was no point. I have always found that you shouldn't fight every battle for the heck of it. There are some fights that there is no point."

"I see." Luffy said nodding his head. Understanding where Shanks was coming from, he wasn't as stupid as many people thought.

"CAPTAIN!" shouted Benn at Shanks

"mmm?" he turned lazily

"The devil fruit is gone!" he claimed holding up an empty treasure chest.

The entire bar froze as if time itself stopped to take in this news.

"WHAT!" The whole bar shouted as one. And as if a bomb went off they started running around looking for it.

"The Mizu Mizu no mi is MISSING!?" shouted Shanks at the top of his voice. Quickly he turned to Luffy who was looking around in confusion and looked at Shanks when he turned to him. Shanks tried to grab Luffy on shoulder to ask him if he saw the fruit. Keyword here being 'tried' his hands when straight through him. Somehow the whole crew saw this and skidded to a halt as time seemed to stop once more in the space of 30 seconds.

" _UH OH_ " They thought as one.

"Luffy did you eat a strangely shaped blue fruit from a chest when you came back in?"

Luffy scrunched his face up in concentration trying to remember the past few minutes. He nodded once. I'm pretty sure Shanks's face palm could be heard in Marineford.

"LUFFY HAVE YOU ANY IDEA WHAT YOU JUST ATE!?" shouted Shanks making most of crew cringe and shrink away from their Captain.

"No? WAS IT POISENED?!" He shouted in return and started to panic.

"No it wasn't poisoned. It was what we call a devil fruit. A fruit that gives its consumer powers based on the fruit in return it take away their ability to swim. You at the Mizu Mizu no Mi. It gives you the ability to create, Control and become Water." Shanks explained staring at Luffy with an impassive face.

"COOL!" Luffy shouted at the top of his lungs. Eyes sparkling with anticipation. "Does this mean I can come with you now?" asked Luffy almost jumping out of his seat.

Shanks regarded his question seriously thinking about the pros and cons of this. He thought of a way around this problem. "Alright then Luffy" Making said boy perk up "You can come _IF_ you can hit me off my seat with one of your super punches or whatever you call them." Shanks said to the 7 year old not know what he was getting himself into.

"ALRIGHT I'LL USE MY SUPER AWESOME PISTOL PUNCH AND YOU'LL HAVE TO TAKE ME ON YOUR JOURNEY!" Luffy shouted prepping himself. His eyes closed in what seemed like concentration. His fist shone black, the crew eyes widened to epic proportions, Luffy's eyes snapped open and he launched his fist forward at blinding speeds that made even Shanks's eyes widen. *BAM* Luffy's fist lodged into Shanks's stomach sending him to the opposing wall. The crew was shocked. A 7 year old just used armament haki, and proceeded to hit their Captain into the wall. Their Jaws dropped and went underground. This they didn't expect.

*Cough* "Luffy…H…How did you do that?" He questioned Luffy slumped against the way, hand on his stomach and eyes wide as dinner plates. "How do you know Haki?"

"Oh so that's what it is, I've been able to do it for just under 6 months, it was during one of Gramps' 'training sessions'." Luffy said

"What kind of training sessions?"

"Oh booted me into a forest." He said nonchalantly.

 _Flashback Start_

"Stupid, Gramps throwing me in a forest. Training sessions my ass" Luffy mumbled to himself.

Walking along a trail he had found, trying to find he way of the infernal forest.

*GRRRRRRRRR* He stopped mid step. And slowly turned around to see 11 wolves walking up to him, teeth bared. They looked hungry. Slowly Luffy took a step backwards, and then another. The wolves continued their advance. Then he bolted. Luffy ran through the forest screaming bloody murder at the top of his lungs while his 11 pursuers gave chase. Running along the trail he decided to change course and see if he could lose them in the undergrowth. Hitting away leafs and stray braches while simultaneously jumping and sliding under tree trunks obscuring his path. Soon though his energy began to wear off and started to slow and his reactions become sluggish. Eventually he tripped over a fallen tree and the wolves appeared around him all 11 had been able to keep up with him. Crawling back his back hit a cliff face and the pack surrounded him. Suddenly a wolf lunged at him, possibly the alpha, mouth open and teeth shining in the dark. Luffy held his arm up in an attempt to defend himself unconsciously changeling haki to his arm, eyes scrunched closed awaiting the pain to come. It never did. Slowly opening his eyes, he was shocked to see the alpha hanging off his arm which was now black. Luffy was confused as hell. He shook the wolf off and it hit a tree and slumped against it. The other wolves witnessing their leader's downfall attacked as one. This time Luffy did something different. He channelled haki to his mind and shouted "BACK OF YOU FAT DOGS!" The wolves froze mid attack and slowly backed down and then turned tail and ran off leaving their leader behind to his fate. Worn out from using haki twice for the first time in the space of a minute he fell back unconscious, only to be found in the morning by his grandpa.

 _Flashback End_

"So that's what happened." Half the crew had passed out from sock, the others were trying to dig their jaws from the ground.

"So you're telling me that you used 2 types of haki in 1 minute defending yourself from some wolves?" Shanks asked eyes wide.

"YUP" Luffy replied smiling broadly.

"Huh, hey Makino who is his grandfather?" Shanks turned to Makino whose eyes were equally wide after listening to the events which took place with Luffy.

"Hm?" Makino snapped out her shock and looked at the red haired pirate. "Oh it's Monkey D Garp" smirking as the other half of the crew passed out.

"Ah ok just ch- WHAT!" Shanks yelled as his mind caught up to his mouth.

"Well this means I can come with you guys now right?" Luffy asked his head tilted to the side.

Shanks looked over to Benn who had by now recovered and caught his glance. Have a whole conversation in the space of a second Benn nodded to Shanks. "Alright then Luffy we will take you with us. We'll train you for 5 years and then we'll drop you off back here. Well leave you with some money, supplies and books and you can build your own ship and gather your own crew. That sound good to you?"

"YES, YES, YES" Luffy yelled excitedly practically bouncing of the walls.

Shanks smirked "Alright we are leaving at the end of the week so get ready for a 5 year to the grand line!" The crew and Luffy cheered out loud for the coming adventures.

* * *

There we have it! The first chappy of The Rising Tides!

Feel free to comment on my work it would really help my writing skills. Please no flames.

See Ya!

Red

Translations

Mizu Mizu no Mi: Water Water fruit


	2. Half way there & Brothers

The Rising Tides

Thank you to all that have reviewed my first chapter.

For the reviews that had questions here are you answers…

Ace Spiritwell: Luffy will meet Ace and Sabo this chapter ;)

Shivisdivis: (Did I spell that right?) Not sure about Zoro. I may or may not put Nami with; truthfully I was already thinking about it but haven't made my mine up. We'll just have to wait and see.

GehesiahEmerald: Garp will appear next chapter. How and when you'll have to see for yourself. :D

So with haste I introduce chapter two of The Rising Tides.

"Speaking"

' _Thoughts'_

*Actions or Noises*

' **Attacks'**

I don't own One Piece :(

* * *

5 years have passed since that day and Luffy and Shanks can be seen on the docks talking after the Red Hair pirates have returned from their journey to the Grandline and to drop off their Captains apprentice.

"Before I forget Luffy, what do you plan to do for the next 5 years before you can set off?" (Luffy is currently 12) Shanks asks Luffy who is standing opposite him, Luffy hadn't had much of an appearance change, the most noticeable thing we the clothes he wore and now standing a foot taller than before he set off. He was wearing a simple red T and a pair of blue shorts with sandals. Also his black hair was even more unruly.

"I'm going to uses the supplies you guys gave me to build my own ship and the books you gave to improve my skills, while building up my devil fruit and haki control" He answered Shanks.

"What about the crew to man the ship?"

"Do you remember the slaves I somehow managed to free a year ago?" He received a nod, both remembering that hassle. "They asked about my dream before they left and when I told them they decided to join me one my quest to complete it. I met with them before we left and told them to meet me in Lougetown in 5 years and in the meantime train from marksmanship and firing cannons to swordsmanship so they are ready for the Grandline."

Nodding as and acceptance of that answer he said good-bye to Luffy and turned to leave. That was until Makino appeared. Luffy seeing this smirks and shakes Shanks hand before walking off around a corner.

Makino walks up to Shanks and puts a hand on his cheek. "Be careful out there Shanks." Smiling softly she decides to be more daring and plants a small kiss on his lips and smiles up at him. It was then she realized something. Shanks was missing and arm. "What happened?" Shanks smiling in return places and kiss on her forehead.

"A little accident in the Grandline a year ago, don't worry about it. And don't worry I'll be safe, I promise." Shanks says looking down at Makino.

With a sudden thought she asked: "Can I come with you?"

"No, it would be too dangerous and I would worry about you too much."

"Why not you brought Luffy along?"

"Luffy had his Logia fruit to help him but he still got in trouble a lot" Thinking back to a year ago…

Makino nods at this a looks depressed at this. Without warning she lunges at him pulling him into a tight hug. Shanks smiles sadly and hugs back.

Luffy who returned to ask Shanks a question sees this and silently takes a picture on camera he got from god knows where.

Separating they kiss once more and Makino leaves. Luffy walks up to Shanks and quietly and stands beside him who was still gazing after Makino. Elbowing him in the chest to bring his attention to him, he calmly states "Be nice to her or I'll personally beat the crap out of you and leave the scraps to Makino to finish off.

Shanks actually feeling threatened by the 12 years smiles fearfully and nods frantically. Just as he was about to turn around he suddenly realised he didn't know what Luffy's dream was. "Luffy one more thing"

"Hm?"

"What's your dream, you never told me."

Grinning, he said. "My dream is to surpass all pirates and become the PIRATE KING!" Yelling at the end. "That means I have to become better that you!" He grinned mischievously sticking his tongue you. A look Shanks didn't like.

Smiling and takes of his straw hat and place it upon Luffy's un-expecting head. "Is that so?" Smiling wider he continued "Better keep this safe for me then ne?" Backing up and feeling proud at himself for training such a good apprentice. He looked and saw Luffy's shocked face. Kneeling down so they were eye to eye, "See you at the top Luffy." With a final pat on the shoulder and turned and walked back to his ship.

* * *

(Small time skip)

Luffy after walking around the village to get used to the layout again, when he finally arrived at Partys bar the sun was just beginning to set casting an orange and red glow across the sky. Walking in he sat at the bar and started to talk with Makino. After awhile Luffy remembered something. "So you and Shanks huh?" Makino went beet red at this. She started blabbering in denial and realising it was pointless when Luffy showed her the picture he took of them hugging by the dock she shut up. "Don't worry I won't tell anyone if that what you worried about." Makino looks a bit embarrassed by this. Rolling his eyes he said, "Here," while handing her the picture, "You can keep it. It's technically your anyway."

Looking at Makino he can tell she already misses him deeply and it showed on her face when she looked at the picture. Coming to a decision he looked at her and asked, "Do you want to see him again?" Makino nodded furiously, he was surprised her head didn't fly off with the speed it was going. "Then would you like to come with me? You might be able to see him again on the Grandline plus we might need a mother figure on the ship to break up fights." Grinning madly to himself.

"But I don't know how to fight and I don't exactly like hurting other either." She replied

"Even if it was a blood thirsty pirate who wants to chop your pretty little head off?"

Opening her mouth to answer and continue the argument but she stopped and realized he had put forward a better argument than see first realized. "But that still doesn't stop the fact that I don't know how to fight."

Smiling, "That ok, Shanks said he left some books with the supplies you can always read those and learn, or I can teach the basics. And for the not hurting anybody part you can always be part of the ship guard."

Nodding to herself she agreed. "That sound alright…Captain…" she said with a devious smirk plastered on her face.

Laughing he countered, "I am no Captain without a ship."

After laughing along with him they continued to talk about random things and Makino filled him in one most that had happened in the village while he was away.

After a while two boys walked into the bar and sat on stools next to Luffy. Turing his head he saw that one boy had a top hat with blond hair and the other had scraggly black hair that hung off his head.

"Hello Ace, Hello Sabo how are you guys today?"

"We're fine Makino" They replied simultaneously

"How are you today?" The newly identified Sabo asked.

"Why I'm perfectly fine today Sabo, thanks for asking." She replied in a cheerful tone.

"That good" Sabo smiled. Sabo noticed Luffy looking at them. "Who are you?" Sabo asked politely.

"huh?" Realizing that they were talking to him Luffy answered "Monkey D Luffy at your service" He smiled broadly sending his hand out to greet them.

"Hi I'm Sabo and this is Ace" Pointing to himself and Ace respectively.

"Wait! Did you say Monkey D?" Ace asked

"Yeah? That my name?" Returned Luffy utterly confused.

"What relation do you have with Garp?" Ace practically shouted

"He's my Gramps?" A still confused Luffy answered.

"Then we're practically brothers!"

"EH?!" Luffy shouted

"Yeah Garp adopted me for some reason."

"Huh." Was Luffy only reply

"If you his grandson why haven't we seen you on the island before?" Sabo questioned

"Oh I was trained by 'Red Haired' Shanks for the past 5 years." He said not expecting much of a reaction.

"Ah o- WHAT!" Yelled both Ace and Sabo. They received and nod from both Luffy and Makino who was listening on the conversation in amusement.

"What did he teach you?" Sabo asked awed at his new 'Brother'.

"I have to admit I am interested as well." Makino put in.

And so for the next couple of hours he proceeded to tell the trio on his trip to the Grandline and what he was trained in, which included: Control on all 3 hakis, Swordsmanship, controlling his devil fruit power which for some reason was very hard to accomplish and was still having trouble, his Marksmanship, eating habits so he doesn't eat the ship food supply but still has his moments. The most notable things that happened in the 5 years were: meeting his dad Dragon (SPOILER, if you hadn't read or watched that far!) who persuaded him to declare war on the World government when he was ready (Shocking I know…also should I keep this or do you want him to have met his dad briefly rather than a lengthy conversation?), having a duel with Mihawk or as Luffy dubbed him Hawkey and gaining a rather large scar from his left shoulder across his chest to his hip, and somehow getting addicted to rum. (How no one knew as it was under aged drinking, pirates follow some rules you know…).

Amazed at what had happened to Luffy all they could manage was a simple "Huh" in response.

Looking outside Luffy spotted it was already dark and excused himself but not before promising to meet up his new brothers the next day. With a good bye to all three Luffy left the bar to a clear which he knew Shanks put all the supplies before he left.

Arriving at a surprisingly well lit area Luffy see many crates, barrels, chests and allsorts of other containers piled in the relatively large clearing. _'That is a lot of stuff…I thought he was exaggerating…'_ He thought to himself.

After spending sometime going through the containers and making a list the supplies contained; he found roughly 500 million beli, enough adam wood to build the Moby dick twice over, a forge of sorts, books on carpentry and other things to keep his skills up, top quality weapons which included swords and pistols with the occasional rife for when longer range is needed, navigational charts of the East Blue, a log pose for when he is in the Grandline, and an eternal pose for Shanks's island if he ever needs him, cloth to make sails and hammocks out of and finally paint. Stepping back to gaze around the clearing he finally noticed a package on the ground wrapped in brown cloth with a letter addressed to him on top. Opening the letter he read _'I hope you like these Luffy, they are named blades we found in the New World a while back. The crew and I agreed to give these to you for your efforts during training and 'that'. Enjoy'._ Finishing the letter he opened to package two Daito (Think Zoro's swords, they're Daito.) One had a sea blue sheath with a wave like design as well as the handle. Taking the blade out it was a magnificent black which seemed to reflect the sun more than glass would. This was 'Tsunami no demon'. The other black was an ominous blood red. Taking this blade out he saw it was a white that could rival the purest of pearls. This was 'Choseki Ikari'. (Both fitting ne?) Returning both blades to their sheaths he proceeded to make a list of all the supplies and organise them. He made a mental note to repay Shanks when he could, after he set up a sleeping area in a set of trees. Taking his swords into the forest he trains and gets used to their weight and feel while trying to combine his DF powers with them like he would haki, it proved very destructive. Along the way he caught dinner, ate and at midnight finally fell asleep under to stars.

* * *

(1 year later)

The ship's shell and lowest deck had been completed. When the village had learned that Luffy was building a ship that all decided to pitch in themselves and help him. Makino, Ace and Sabo had found out just days after he started. 1 year after starting they were all having a break from building. Makino had started training in defending herself with tutoring from Luffy every now and then. He had offered to train Ace and Sabo but both declined saying they wanted to learn on their own. Despite being only 13 Luffy was becoming even more of a monster which only spurred Ace and Sabo to train harder. Speaking of which we can find the trio sitting in Partys bar celebrating their 1 year anniversary of becoming brothers. (They did the sake thing the day they met up to bond.) They had got each other gift commemorate this.

Now Luffy was originally going to sell these but decided to give them to Ace and Sabo instead. What he got them socked both them to the bone. He got them devil fruits. Ace got the Mera Mera no Mi and Sabo got the Kaze Kaze no Mi. Both brothers pounced on Luffy hugging him and thanking him profusely before they realized Luffy needed air to live and let him go. (Luffy wasn't expecting this to happened to he didn't activate he DF so they would pass through him in time) After that Luffy received his gifts, Ace got him a sea blue sash, (Imagine his one after time skip but blue) and Sabo gave him a large coat which was a vibrant red with gold trimmings. He got it a few sizes to big so he can wear it when he sets off in 4 years. (Also if I forgot to mention Ace and Sabo are currently 16 meaning they are 3 years older than Luffy in this fanfic). Ace gave Sabo a coat like Luffy's except this was black with blue trimmings and Sabo gave Ace an orange cowboy hat which he seemed to adore the moment he saw it. After the gift exchange the brothers ate and talked together on end for hours. Ace and Sabo being 3 years older told Luffy they would be leaving in a year when they both turned 17 to set off to the sea. Although unhappy at the short amount of time left Luffy accepted they had to follow their own dreams and make their own journey. Looking outside and seeing it was quite late into the night now Luffy bid both goodnight and returned to his clearing dubbed by the village 'Luffy area'.

* * *

There all finished. The second chapter of The Rising Tides.

Again feel free to review and comment on my writing.

Also how long would you like these chapters? 2-3k or around 5k+ but with longer updates periods?

Speaking of which I will try to update weekly but no promises.

Ta Ta!

Translations

Mera Mera no Mi: Flare Flare fruit (Is it flare or flame I can't remember and I'm to lazy to check)

Kaze Kaze no Mi: Wind Wind fruit

Tsunami no demon: Demon of the Tsunami

Choseki Ikari: Tidal Wrath

Daito: Long sword


	3. Visiting Marines and Good-byes

The Rising Tides

Hey guys and gals sorry for the longer update but as the school year is coming to a close the work is beginning to pile on so I haven't had the time to write.

Any way thanks for the reviews and finally onwards to the chapter. (Line break)

(7 month later)

Today we find Luffy sitting in the clearing meditating to practise his observation haki when he feels Makino enter and walk closer. He opened a questioning eye and looks at her.

"Hey Luffy can you help me with something?" She asked when she saw the look he was giving her.

"Sure" He replied and they began to walk out of the clearing in the direction of the village

When they get there Makino merely points to the problem. Following the direction of her finger what he spots he finds very amusing.

"Huh" he comments. What Luffy, Makino and a few other curious villagers are gazing upon would be and a panicking Ace who was running around shouting things that would have made the bravest of men back of a few steps and Sabo sitting on the floor with his legs under his chin, rocking back and forth muttering to himself and shivering ever now and then.

Stepping forward Luffy grabs Sabo as he seems to be in a better condition, and hauls him to his feet.

"What's going on?" He asks

Sabo mutters something incoherent "Huh?" He asks again

"G…g….p" Luffy freezes, only one thing beginning with G and ending in P would get these to like this. Dropping Sabo, who immediately went back to rocking, he joined Ace in running around shouting things that should never be mentioned.

"Well he was no help…" Makino muttered to herself with a deadpan expression as she watched to three crap themselves. She had to admit it was quite amusing.

During the panic mode Luffy paused mid step which caused his brothers to look at him also stopping.

"AH WE NEED TO HIDE EVERYTHING!" Luffy shouted grabbing his head. Both brothers realizing the consequences if the ship was ever found out run off with Luffy leaving behind and bewildered bunch of villagers.

After hiding everything they had all calmed down somewhat to talk about the issue at hand.

"Sabo when is he arriving?" He questioned turning to his blonde brother.

"Towards the end of the day which is around 6 hours." He replied

"Ok 6 hours to make sure we don't blow a casket." With the brothers acknowledgement they walked off to prepare. While walking Luffy wandered what he would say about disappearing for 5 years. Boy it would be interesting. (Line break)

(6 hours later)

The brothers stood side by side at the dock awaiting the marine ship that was steadily growing larger and larger as it closed in on the dock.

"I wonder how he will react when he sees me…" Luffy wondered.

Ace and Sabo glance and him and take a couple steps away from him. "You're on your own" they say simultaneously.

"Cheers" He replies sarcastically.

When the ship eventually reaches land and docks Garp almost immediately walks off the ship and towards Luffy. When he reaches him he looks at him for a while before smacking him on the back of the head.

"OW what was that for?" He asked as he rubbed the back of the head.

"For making your old gramps worry"

Luffy then shocked even himself when he suddenly grabbed Garp in a hug. Shocked for a bit he smiled and returned the hug.

"I missed you" He whispered quietly. It wasn't long before Ace and Sabo joined the hug as well. (Line break)

After that moment the 'D's and Sabo retreated to the bar to chat.

"So are you going to tell me where you've been for the past 5 years Luffy?" Garp asked looking Luffy dead in the eyes.

Deciding to answer truthfully he said. "you favourite pirate decided to take me on a 5 year trip to the Grandline and while I was there he trained me!"

Garp was furious but he was still and old man and proceeded to pass out from shock that his previously 7 year old grandson had been to the Grandline with a 'filthy pirate'. The trio burst out laughing at Garp's expense. (Line break)

After Garp woke up and chewed Luffy up and spat him out again for going on a trip with I say again 'filthy pirate', we find the rather odd family in the forest eating a rather large pile of meat while talking to their grandfather about what had been missed.

When night fell all where exhausted and 'passed out' on the forest floor snoring away like no tomorrow. (Who said Luffy worked on his sleeping habits?)

After Garp decided to tou - ahem – train his grandchildren. While they welcomed the extra training the all silently agreed Garp went a bit overboard with it. (line break)

(Two weeks later)

Garp left to return to the Marines a couple of days ago and the trio were glad but sad at the same time. Even though they would eventually be enemies and were above all else family, and that was something they would never forget.

Currently Luffy was helping Ace and Sabo understand their fruits while working on his own sword style he called rain dance. (for some reason this took me forever to think off)

After finishing a set of katas (is that what their called?) and looked over at Ace and Sabo to see how they were fairing both of which were working on perfecting their loggias but were far from it as they were still working on the basics. Nodding at their progress he moved onto the next set of katas and worked on using them flawlessly. He was progressing well. (line break)

(5 months later)

Luffy and the rest of the village stood facing Ace and Sabo at the dock. Yep you guessed it, it was time for Ace and Sabo to leave. While Ace and Sabo held smiles Luffy and a visibly downcast face. During the year Luffy had known his brothers he had grown amazingly close to them. While the villagers said their good byes Luffy waited at the back. When the village populace broke away Luffy walked up to his brothers and held them tightly with Ace and Sabo returning to with the same amount of strength.

"Be safe. I'll see you on the Grandline." He whispered.

Stepping back he wiped away a stray tear and smiled up at his brothers. Smiling back they waved to the village as they stepped into a boat Luffy had built as a going away present.

After they were out of site Luffy walked back to the clearing with Makino following behind. When they arrived they were greeted with a half finished ship with crates and barrels strewn about the place.

Smirking he turned to Makino. "We have a lot of work to do."

Makino merely smiled in response.

(End) (line break)

Sorry people for the wait but with this school and my personal life things are getting hectic. So I worked my but off to get this out even though it is noticeably shorter so you guys won't think I've abandoned the story.

As such I will put the story and temporary hold until August so I can write without having to worry about school as well. When the 4th chapter comes out I will try and make it longer to make up for the one you may have missed.

With that said thanks for reading this chapter and I'll see you later!


	4. Message

Hey guys and gals!

Just here to tell you all that school is finished! So I will start writing the next chapter soon and post it hopefully at the start of August.

Until then see ya!


	5. Nothing they could prepare for

The Rising Tides

Thanks for all of your patience in waiting for this chapter. So sorry for the long wait but I finally got round to writing, also if you are interested I can set up a poll about the main pairing.

Anyway I'm back and I'm writing again. I thank all of those who have reviewed and followed/favourited my story it does help to see people enjoy what I write.

Finally onwards to the chapter.

"Talking"

' _Thinking'_

*Actions or noises*

' **Attacks'**

I don't own One Piece

* * *

(4 years later)

Dressed in a simple t-shirt and shorts Luffy stood at the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. A small smile showed on his face. "Its almost time huh?" he asked himself

Now 17 years old Luffy stood just under 6ft by half an inch. His muscles were more defined and his body had filled out rather well, giving the appearance of an Olympic runner, someone who had defined muscles but decked out like a boxer, rather than the lanky boy people he was thought to grow up as. This shocked a lot of people who thought this were a fact.

"It's almost time to leave" He said again to no one in particular.

Power wise Luffy had grown immensely. His overall standing would be close to admiral but another half year of training would fix that.

Turing he wandered back to the clearing to gaze upon the ship that was nearing completion. A week at most he guessed. After all they were merely doing aesthetics now. Tomorrow they would be moving the ship to a cove he found so it would be easier to set sail on the day. Makino and a few other were painting it a nice shade of blue in places.

The ship was massive. It had 5 levels, including the deck, 66 guns and 3 masts. It was a true master piece.

The first level (deck) held the 3 masts, 2 big masts at the back with a smaller one at the front. Towards the back the Captains quarters were, which as quiet large stretching the width of the ship and about 20ft back making it a rather large room. Either side of the room were stairs that lead up to the helm which was perched atop the Captain quarters. The area in front of the quarters held stars leading to other levels.

Level 2 were the living areas. At the back the first and second mate quarters were placed with a space in-between for single cannon to be placed. The quarters were a large room about a foot smaller than half the width of the CQ and had their own bed and bathroom and a place to put personal items and clothes. The middle had rows and rows of stacked hammocks totalling to around 80. This area was separated into sectors. Each sector held 8 hammocks stacked in 2 lines of 4. Each sector had a number and had their own set of necessities such a small bathroom and an area to store clothes and personal items. Overall there were 10 of these sectors. At the front were the women's quarters who had rooms like the 1st and 2nd mate but smaller and hammocks instead of beds. Again there was a gap in-between the rooms for a single cannon to be placed. On this deck there were 10 cannons each side totalling 22 cannons on level 2.

Level 3 had the galley and the kitchen with a small food storage at the back. This was a simple level with the kitchen at the back with an open bar feel. Behind the kitchen was the food storage as well as another cannon. In front of the kitchen were 20 tables which could hold 4 people each. In front of the kitchen was a larger table which could hold around 12 people. This table will be for was will soon be named core crew. Another single cannon sat and the bow of this level and 10 other cannons either side separated by a wall from the main seating area. This deck had another 22 cannons in total.

Level 4 had the main storage in the middle for the spoils of the journey. At the front the an infirmary was placed and again with another cannon. At the back the armoury was located with housed all the weapons needed to fight as well as small munitions storage. Another 10 cannons either side totalling to the final 22 cannons.

The final level or level 5 had a large seastone brig, at the front had the navigation room complete with navigational charts are log poses. The middle had the powder and larger munitions storage complete with a workshop, separated of course. (Can't have the ship randomly blowing up can we?)

Luffy was brought out of his small moment by a smiling and waving Makino who walked up and stood beside him. "How long to you reckon?" Makino asked turning to Luffy

"About a week I think. Give or take a day or two" Luffy answered. Makino nodded accepting the answer and went back to continue working, Luffy not far behind.

* * *

(A week later)

Currently we find most of the population in the bar celebrating the completion of the ship which Luffy named Oceans freedom. It had been late in the evening when they finished so they agreed to set sail tomorrow afternoon.

"Ah finally finished." Luffy said leaning against the bar with a bottle of rum in his hands. "That was an exhausting couple of years"

Makino nodded her head beside him agreeing. Despite having her own drink she continued to man the bar to help the celebration. Woop Slap sat in the corner of the bar mumbling about something or other.

The party continued for on into the night for a couple of hours until people could drink no more and returned stumbling home.

(The next morning)

It was approaching the time to leave and Makino had just finished packing. Luffy was standing at the dock looking over the sea. Luffy allowed a small smile to grace his lips and he thought about what was about come. He talked to Makino and agreed they need a core crew and grunts, the core crew to be the power houses and take on the brunt of their enemies and the grunts to man the ship and be fodder of sorts to take the lesser enemies that they face.

Gazing out to sea he saw many ships coming into view heading towards the island and fast. _'What's going on?'_ He grabbed a spyglass nearby and looked over at the approaching ships. They were Marine ships? What were they doing here? This group was too large for a patrol or visit. Moving the spy glass across the ship he spied the middle ship which was the largest. He spotted an admiral. Admiral Akainu. (Is that right?) Dropping the spy glass when he saw the admiral smirk at him, seeming to know that he was looking at him he realised what had happened. A buster call. The marines found out about his heritage and his apprenticeship under shanks. They wanted to deal with a cut before it festered and grew and became an infection, he turned and ran to warn the village but the Marines were already firing upon it so he turned in the direction of the bar to get the Mayor and Makino.

*BAM*

Luffy burst through the door of the bar and more explosions sounded of outside."MAYOR!"

"Luffy what the hell is going on!?" Woop replied in obvious panic

"The marines they've buster called the island!"

Woop froze, everyone knew about the buster call. "What do we do?"

"Save as many as we can, they will be landing in a minute, I'll hold them off will you and Makino can everyone to my ship in the cove."

"What?! Luffy No!" Makino shouted.

"Makino! They have a admiral." Time stopped. They knew only Luffy could even stand up to him. Nodding sadly Makino and Woop started collecting everybody and directed them to the ship.

Luffy rushed past the streams of crying and shouting villagers as more explosions appeared around him. He saw the first Marines ahead and created two water swords in his hands as he left his normal ones on the ship.

Charging forward in 3 quick movements a group of 5 marines fell. His observation haki warned him of a Marine attacking behind him. Spinning on his heel he razed a sword and blocked the downwards slash aimed at him. Pushing him off he stab his opponent and turned again, blocking more slashed and stabs that the Marines were throwing at him. This continued for a while blocking, stabbing and slashing and what seemed to be cannon fodder. His haki sensed a more powerful presence dropping towards him quickly. Thinking fast he rolled out of the way as a Captain crashed where he had been previously standing.

"You guys keep appearing like flies!"

"And you keep cutting us down like cattle in return." The man who answered appeared middle aged and had slightly tanned skin. He was rather bulky and held an elegant katana in his hands. He held the blade in front of him in a battle ready stance.

Seeing the stance he was in Luffy readied himself to counter the newest marine. "Who are you? Why are you doing this?"

The opponents circled each other. "It is all in the name of justice. As for my name why should I tell someone about to die?"

Luffy faltered in his steps, an opportunity the Captain took. The two locked blades and pushed against each other for dominance. "Justice, JUSTICE! You call this justice?!" Luffy shouted at the man in front of him as he won the battle of dominance and shoved the Marine back. Gathering water around him he created some clones to fight of the fodder once more, holding the line to give the villagers some more time. Luffy took the offensive this time running at the Marine he crossed his swords and gathered his power. **Mizu** **Mizu ken sutairu: Mizu herikkusu.** Crossing back and forth in front of the marine with his swords now pointed downwards he stopped a metre behind the Captain crouched, a helix pattern on the ground signifying the move success. The Captain fell back dead with a large X on his torso where his body met the attack.

Luffy snorted, "Kill me my ass…" He decided to join the clones in the ongoing battle against the marines, a battle they were winning. Jumping in he joined the fray of flying fists, swords, firing guns and water attacks, a good attribute to of these clones, he basically had his own army at his disposal.

As the marines finned out and routed Luffy released the clones and started to head back to the ship. They had been fighting a good hour everyone one should be on board. Agreeing with himself he turned and ran to the ship.

When he arrived he saw something that was unnerving. Akainu standing there staring at it with a platoon of marine in front along with him, standing around a scared group of villagers who had a injured Makino with them, poised for the kill. Creating for clones silently he instructed them to attack the marine platoon while he went for admiral. Caught off guard the marines were easily cut down while they tried to reform their lines.

As this happened Luffy stood before a rather angry looking admiral, "So we meet again Luffy. You sure have grown from that small child I saw 6 years ago.

"And you are the exact same stuck up admiral I saw last time." He replied while repressing memories for 'that' day.

Seeing his inner conflict Akainu smirked. "Still having nightmare about that day?"

Luffy eyes narrowed. _'So you want to play that game do you?',_ "Only about that face you made when I hit you where it hurts." He smirked in reply. _'Two can play at that game'_

Enraged Akainu charged Luffy with a fist cocked back aimed at his head. Ducking under the fist he rolled away from him and reformed his swords and pointed them at the admiral, who was shocked at the speed that Luffy moved. Turning Akainu turned his right arm into magma and charged at Luffy, who released a sword and covered a fist in cold water. Running forward he met Akainu's fist in an explosion of power which sent most people flying away. The ground cracked underneath the two as their elements battled for dominance.

*Boom*

Another explosion erupted in the epicentre of the attacks as the combatants were launched away from each other. Catching himself Luffy flipped to his feet as Akainu was getting up, he yelled **Mizu Mizu: Dangan** while throwing his fist towards his opponent. A ball of water flew from his fist and sped towards the admiral at the speed of the a bullet catching him off guard and laughing him into the wood behind him.

Luffy seeing his attack's limited success ran towards the villagers and got them moving towards the ship once more. "Come on move, MOVE!" He started shoving the villagers to get them moving quicker. He picked up Makino and ran with them as the clones mopped up the rest of the marines. Reaching the cove he boarded the ship quickly and used his powers over water to move the ship of the cove and into open water.

Sensing something to his left he turned an saw the small fleet aiming towards them. Closing his eyes he yelled **Miz Mizu: Yaei-chi** a dome of water erupted from the sea and covered the Oceans freedom protecting it from attacks. Using his powers once more he directed the ship into the sea with the dome providing an air pocket. They were safe, finally.

All was quiet aboard the ship apart from the heavy breathing and crying of the civilians aboard and the few people attending to the wounded.

Luffy finally exhausted collapsed from the extensive use of his powers. Moving a boat with this much weight was costly. He rested himself against his quarters.

"How many?" Luffy's voice broke the silence with a hoarse voice.

Woop counted the heads of the people on the deck. "There are 37 here so that's at least 50 we lost easy." He replied with a sad sigh and his head down. Many people copying his actions after these words.

"Shit…" Was Luffy only response his eyes covered by his straw hat he now wore. Everyone could tell he blamed himself.

"Why did they attack us?" A small girl asked walking up to Luffy, tears in his eyes.

' _She must have lost her parents'_ Luffy thought. Bringing the child into his arms he hugged her. The girl welcomed the gesture and cried into his chest. Tears stained his t-shirt but he didn't care. "I have a few theories." Luffy said after the girl had calmed down a little. The girl was roughly 4 and had long black hair and emerald green eyes.

This caught the attention of the others aboard. "Well?" asked a man at the back.

"My most sensible one would be because of me." This confused a lot of people.

"What do you mean because of you?" Asked Makino who'd just woken up.

"I think that the World Government have discovered who my father is and my apprenticeship under Shanks" Luffy replied. "They must have thought that I would prove to be trouble in the future and wanted to be rid of me now rather than face a lot of trouble later."

"Whose your dad Luffy-nii?" The girl in his arms asked. Luffy tensed at both the question and his name the girl chose for him.

Sighing he prepared for the worst. "Monkey D Dragon, The most wanted criminal in the world." (Is he the most wanted Crim btw?)

He heard a multiple sharp intakes of air and lowered his hat further over his eyes. "I don't care who he is Lu-nii, you protected us while we were running and even risked your life battling the big man who wanted to hurt us so we could make it to the big boat." The girl smiled up at him.

To his surprise he heard many murmurs of agreement. He lifted he head slightly to see the smiling faces of the surviving villagers.

"Why attack us though and not just you when you were at sea? No offence." It was Woop this time.

"I don't know that part, but that is my guess at the corruption in the WG. If it were a buster call the most like all life on Dawn Island has most likely been eradicated. It's not an attack force it's an extermination force."

"What are we going to do we can't life on this ship forever?" asked a women at the front.

"I can't drop off at the nearest town if you want."

"I think that would be for the best Luffy." Woop replied nodding.

"Alright I'll bring us up in a couple of hours, everyone get some sleep."

Creating clone he sent it downstairs to retrieve pillows and blankets. People thank him a lay down to get some sleep. Soon it was just Luffy and the girl in his arms who was still sniffing.

"So whats you name?"

"Maya" The girl replied

"Maya huh? Nice name. Where are your parents?" H asked kindly.

"Dead, they were in the house when the bad guys started shooting at us. The house went boom first so I don't know if they are alive anymore." She said as she started a new round of tears.

' _So I was right'_ he thought as he held her to his chest once more and rocked back and forth to try and calm the cry child in his arms. "Why did you come to me though?"

"You look lonely on your own over here Lu-nii, and you saved us so I know you could protect me like a brother would" She smiled brightly up at Luffy who smiled back down at her.

' _She almost reminds me of…no can't think about that, I told myself to forget about that…'_ Luffy grimaced he tried to forget but it keeps appearing in his head. "Come on let's get some sleep, you must be tired.

Maya nods slowly, signs of her new fatigue, and sifts into a comfortable position on Luffy and falls asleep almost instantly.

Signing Luffy gets comfortable, may as well get some sleep got a long couple of days ahead.

* * *

Fin!

Finally finished. Thank you all for being patient with me and for all the reviews. I'll get the next chapter out as soon as I can.

Should Maya stay with Luffy on the journey or should she go, I haven't decided yet so I could use you opinions.

So thanks all!

CYA!

 **Translations**

 **Mizu ken sutairu: Mizu herikkusu – Wate sword style: Water helix**

 **Mizu Mizu: Dangan - Water Water: Bullet**

 **Miz Mizu: Yaei-chi – Water Water: Encirclement**


	6. Shell Town and the adventure begins!

The Rising Tides

Hello everyone Red here for another chapter on the rising tides.

Sorry for another long wait but thanks for all the reviews and favourites it really does help. Not much to say really except I hope you enjoy this chapter.

"Talking"

' _Thinking'_

*Actions or noises*

' **Attacks'**

I don't own One Piece

* * *

(Few hours later)

Luffy awoke to the sound of giggling and a click of something. Slowly blinking the sleep out his eyes his vision cleared and the form of a giggle Makino with a camera standing in front him appeared.

"Hello sleepy head" she said still giggling.

Rolling his eyes he tried to get up from his sitting position but was unable to due to a weight on his chest. Looking down he saw a small mass of black hair rising and falling in rhythm with his breathing. He smiled softly as he remembered the events from earlier and frowned after that recalling the events beforehand.

Seeing his frown Makino smiled softly and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Everything will be okay in the end. Granted we had a bad start but look, you saved a lot of people and already have a 4 year old who wants you as a big brother." Pointing to the sleeping villagers and Maya respectively.

Nodding his head he seemed to lighten up considerably. "I take it we are the only ones awake."

"We are it's been a few hours and I thought you would want to get ready." Makino replied.

Nodding his head in agreement he shifted himself to put down Maya without disturbing her sleep.

And with that he got up and walked into his quarters to prepare for his journey ahead.

* * *

After half an hour Luffy finally walked out of his quarters onto the deck of the ship, which was still under the ocean's surface, to face the 30 or so pairs of eyes staring at him.

"What?" Luffy asked quite confused. Luffy had changed into what he'd dubbed the Captains uniform. Currently he was wearing black cargo pants which were tucked into black combat boots, a red open long sleeved cardigan showing of his abs and a jagged red scar travelling from his left shoulder to his right hip. Around his waist was a sea blue sash which he got from Ace which held both his swords at his right hip. Over top he had the red coat Sabo had gifted him, somehow fitting him perfectly and atop his head sat his prized straw hat fishing the look.

A cheer from a little girl broke everyone out of their shock. A black bullet smashed into the side of Luffy causing him to stumble. "Luffy-nii you look awesome!" shouted Maya, many other people nodding their heads.

Scratching the back of his head Luffy chuckled "Heh heh thanks."

"Welp we should get going Luffy, you could start by getting us out of the ocean." Woop asked Luffy who nodded and crouched on the deck and closed his eyes concentrating.

The ship started to rock as it was lifted out of the sea and back into the sunlight. The dome of water fell apart soaking the passengers to the bone. Turing they glared at Luffy who had just stood up from his position.

"Hehe oops?" The villagers continued to glare at him so with a roll of his eyes and a lift of his hand all the water lifted off them and gathered above the ship and proceeded to flow into the sea either side.

Walking up to the stair to the helm Luffy had a look at his surroundings and then up at the sky.

"Hmm about 3 give or take half and hour…Hey Makino!" He yelled walking up to the railing

"Yeah?" Makino replied

"Can you get me a map from downstairs please?" Luffy asked

"Hang on" Makino agreed walking down through the levels.

After a few minutes Makino returned with a rolled up piece of paper and a compass and set it down on the deck for Luffy.

Walking down Luffy knelt by the map and took the compass and looked at it. Looking towards the sky once more and then at the map Luffy began mumbling to himself and tracing lines on the map with his fingers.

The villagers watched on eyes wide as they never expected Luffy to be able to do this. "What's he doing?" A curious Maya asked.

"He's trying to find out where we are on the map to decide where to go next." Woop answered her.

"Which do you prefer, Shell town or Orange town?" Luffy asked suddenly he fingers pointing at 2 islands.

Woop looked around him at the exhausted faces of the villagers. "Which is closer?"

"Shell" he replied

"Take us there then."

Nodding Luffy closed his eyes and the ship lurched forward knocking a few people over. Luffy then got up and walked up to the helm and steered north in the direction of shell town. "Alright we should be there in the morning so do whatever, dinner will be around 5 if Makino will be so kind as to cook for us." Makino nodded he head in agreement and walked of as did many other people. Maya quite happily bounced up the stairs and stood by her older brother at the wheel and started chatting to him about anything and everything. Luffy just smiled and listened to his surrogate sister answering questions now and then.

* * *

(The next morning)

Luffy was standing at the bow of the ship looking out onto the ocean and into the distance. After another hour of staring into nothing an island finally appeared in the distance.

Turning round Makino appeared behind him smiling. "Are we almost there?" she asked.

"Yeah go wake the others."

A few minutes later the villagers were all bellow deck awaiting arrival. They agreed that Luffy would check first if the villagers could stay on the island before they came up top to avoid drawing attention to them.

Makino and Luffy stood on the deck with Maya on Luffy shoulders, apparently her new favourite spot.

"Hey Nii-san what's that boat over there?"

Both Luffy and Makino looked over to where Maya was pointing. A pink ship with red hearts and a duck figurehead at the front sailed into the distance. The flag at the top of the mast showed a skull and cross bones with a red heart over top.

"Alvida Pirates, 5 million beri of I'm not mistaken." Luffy commented.

The ship appeared to be turning towards them. "They are heading this way." Makino said noticing the change.

Nodding his head Luffy asked, "How much money do we have left?"

Makino closed her eyes and bounced her head contemplating the question. "Around 5k remaining I think. Why?"

"Just wondering if I could cash in their bounties or not." Luffy replied. Lifting Maya of his shoulders he set her on the ground and crouched down to face her. "Alright Maya, your brother has to deal with some bad pirates so can you go down and wait with the others until I call you?"

Hugging Luffy she nodded her head. "Ok I will, just don't get hurt ok?"

Luffy nodded his head in agreement and stood up, turning to Makino and said, "Go with her and tell the others what's happening and then gear up for a fight." Makino nodded and walked off with Maya who happily bounced behind her and waved to Luffy who waved back at her smiling.

Turning back around Luffy eyed the ever grown ship that was closing in on them. Turning he rested a hand on his swords and walked up to the helm. Aiming the ship onto a collision course with Alvida's ship, his ship would fare better due to the Adam's wood it was made out of.

Luffy was soon joined by Makino who had changed into better clothes for the fight. She was now wearing jean shorts with the ends up turned, and a plain blue t-shirt. She had a cutlass strapped to her waist along with a pistol in a holster diagonally across her chest connecting at the waist. She gripped a rifle in her hand.

"Ready?" Luffy asked.

"Yep" Makino replied. "Plan of attack?"

"I'll attack them from here, you go up to the crows next and snipe them from above, aim to disable not kill, we want them alive. When everyone is dealt with we loot the ship and carry on to Shell town."

"Ok see you in a bit." And with that she ran off and up the rigging onto the crow's nest of the centre mast.

The ship continued to close in a soon it was upon them. The Alvida Pirates started by broad siding the Oceans freedom, as expected the cannon balls just hit the hull and fell into the water without doing any damage. They continued to fire for a while and seeing as it wasn't doing any damage stop and turned to board the ship.

"Ready Makino?" Luffy shouted up to her. She replied by raising her hand and aiming her rifle towards the oncoming pirates preparing to board.

Luffy took off his coat and rested it on the railing. Taking out his swords he walked down the stairs and met the now boarding pirates.

Luffy met an overhead swing with a block and hit him with the pummel of his other sword in the stomach knocking him down, spinning on his heel he blocked another swing from the side and sliced him at the knees dropping him, someone fired at him but the shot passed through him due to his logia, said pirate was soon shot in the arm courtesy of Makino.

This continued for awhile, a stream of weak ass pirates being cut down by what looked like a dancing Luffy and being shot by Makino. He didn't even need his other powers for this.

After a couple of minutes the stream stopped and sounds of gun fire and clashing swords were replaced by the noises of groaning and moaning men. Makino climbed down from the nest and stood by Luffy among the carnage.

Sheathing his swords he turned to Makino and smiled. "That was fun." He remarked.

Makino merely rolled her eyes and giggled. "What now? Alvida is not among these guys."

"She must still be aboad, thinking these guys would be enough, I'll go look now while you tie these guys up." Nodding her head Makino retrieved some rope and tied up the pirates along with some clones Luffy left and proceeded to drag them to the brig on deck 5.

Meanwhile Luffy along with some more clones were searching the ship. Walking down a hallway Luffy came across a door and walked in. It just so happened to the treasure room with quite a lot in.

' _Must have just attacked someone'_ Luffy thought to himself. Creating more clones he stared to sort and collect the loot in the room.

Luffy was looking at an expensive necklace with a clone spoke up, "Hey Boss!" Luffy looked over to the clone to see him holding a locked chest which had be opened by the clone. "Take a look at this." He said chucking the box to Luffy who caught it and opened it. A wide smile spread across his face. _'Who'd 'ave thought they had one of these?.'_ He thought.

After finishing in the treasure room Luffy headed back topside, with the chest under his arm, along with a line of clones tracking behind him, with bags of gold and jewels over their shoulders.

Arriving at their destination Luffy was greeted with a sight of 2 Luffy clones confronting a REALLY fat lady with a iron mace by her side, who looked like a cross between a whale and a bull dog, and a small pink haired boy cowering behind her.

The clones noticed Luffy coming and shouted, "Hey boss, we found a whale!" The other clones snickered in the background while Luffy just smirked.

"Alright I'll take it from here, and you lot take the loot back to the ship and put it in storage." A chorus of 'Yes Sir's' and 2 splashes of water followed his command.

Luffy continued his walk to Alvida while the clones worked their way aboard the Oceans Freedom.

"WHO ARE YOU!?" Alvida shouted at Luffy and he got closer.

Luffy merely shrugged his shoulders and said. "A start up pirate who, just captured your crew and stole all of your gains, nothing more nothing less at the moment."

"Do you have any idea who I am boy?!" Alvida questioned.

Luffy looked Alvida up and down, and then looked up at her with a narrowed look and a tilted head and stated more than asked, "I don't know a whale?"

Alvida shook with rage and charge at Luffy her Iron mace held high. Getting close she swung down hoping to hit a target.

Luffy rolled his eyes and dodged under the swing tripping her along the way sending her rolling across the deck to the other side in a daze.

Standing Luffy turned his attention to the boy now by his side still quivering. "And who might you be?" He asked.

The boy jumped back as if surprised to see him there with fear in his eyes, he looked between the dazed Alvida and Luffy who was looking at him with an eyebrow raised.

Gulping he gathered his courage and stuttered out, "C…C…Coby…Sir"

"Coby hm?" Luffy asked, he received a nod in return, "And what's a boy like you doing on a pirate ship?"

Seeing the boy before him meant no harm Coby stop quivering but still held the fear in his eyes, "I'm being held hostage, I was going fishing one day and mistook this ship for a fishing boat and climbed aboard, the pirates captured me and forced me to be their cabin boy in return for my life."

Luffy just stood there with a dumbfounded look on his face of which Coby noticed. "What?" He asked.

"H…H…How do you mix up a bright pink ship, with a pirate flag on the mast might I add, with a fishing boat which would be half the size?"

Coby blushed, but he at least had the decency to gaze at his own feet.

Luffy using his Haki felt Alvida moving behind him, and turned to look to see her beginning to stagger to her feet using her club as leverage.

"Hey whats you name anyway?" Coby asked

"Luffy, Monkey D Luffy, future pirate king!" Luffy replied ginning.

Coby's eyes widened at the added title. "P…P…Pirate King?!" He managed to stutter out. "B…but that's impossible, the pirate king is the most dangerous and richest pirate on the planet you'll die no doubt about it, impossible, absolutely impo-" Coby was cut off when a fist softly but firmly 'bopped' him on the head interrupting his speech.

"I don't care if it's impossible, I don't care if I die. Being Pirate King is my dream, and if I don't succeed I'm gonna sure as hell die trying, because dreams are always worth fighting for." Luffy told Coby angrily but finishing softer.

Coby looked up with admiration in his eyes and looked quizzical for a moment before speaking up. "Do you think I can do it?" he asked

"What be pirate king? No that's my dream." Luffy said with a confused look on his face and an eye brow raised.

"No…do you think I can be a Marine? It's always be my dream to catch bad people like Alvida!"

"A Marine huh?" He received a nod, "I don't see why not, dreams are always something to fight for and even if you die, hey at least you died doing something you enjoyed."

"WHAT WAS THAT COBY!?" a voice yelled from the other side of the boat.

Turning they saw Alvida standing up again, maybe a bit ruffled, but otherwise ok.

"N…n…nothing…L…Lady Al…Alvida." Coby replied right back to stuttering

Luffy rolled his eyes in exasperation and shook his head. _'I thought I was getting somewhere with him'_

Meanwhile Alvida was not convinced of Coby's answer as she heard it quite clearly, "OK Coby Who is the most beautiful women on the seas?"

Luffy had to hold back a snicker at the question.

"Y…y…" Coby started to say. Coby was about to say 'you of course' but before he did he glanced at Luffy who was sending a curious look at him. _'No I will fight for my dream'._ "NOT YOU, YOU OLD HAG!"

That was it Luffy couldn't hold it anymore and burst out laughing.

"WHAT!" Alvida yelled in outrage and ran towards Coby Mace held high once more.

This time Coby stood tall and awaited his fate. His eyes closed tightly so he couldn't see Luffy unsheathing a sword and stepping in between them

*Clang*

The sound of metal on metal made Coby open his eyes a touch. He eyes widened further when he saw Luffy standing in front of him his blue sword in a backwards grip holding the mace back without any difficulty.

"Well done Coby you finally faced you fears, I'm impressed." Luffy commented still holding the mace.

Currently Alvida was shocked, she was wondering how this boy could hold up her mace with a single sword, "H…how?"

Luffy just shrugged, "I'm stronger." And with that Luffy launched a small burst of Haoshoku haki at her knocking her out.

Re-sheathing his sword he turned to Coby who was behind him, "I'm heading to Shell town, I've heard there is a marine base there, you can join up there if you want. I'll give you a lift."

Turning back around he picked up Alvida's leg in one hand and her club in the other and proceeded to drag her across the ships and into the brig.

Coming back to the top Luffy was greeted with a bouncing Maya and Coby looking around the deck.

"Alright let's get going." Luffy said walking up to the helm. Using his powers he got the ship moving again and sank Alvida ship.

While he was sailing he put his coat back on and picked up Maya to put on his shoulders again.

I wasn't until a few minutes later that they were joined by Makino but she wasn't alone. In front of her stood an orange haired girl being pushed along by Makino's sword.

"Who's this?" He asked looking over to them curiously.

"I found her snooping around the ship after I put the prisoners away and cornered her when she tried to run." Makino replied.

He turned to the girl, "Are you going to tell me what you were doing on Alvida's ship and coincidently now my ship?" he questioned with a stern gaze.

The girl looked confused, "How did you know I was on her ship?"

"Where else could you have come from?"

"How do know I didn't get on at your last stop." Everyone bar the girl tensed as they remembered yesterday's events.

Luffy immediately turned away and back towards the sea, Maya buried her head into Luffy's hat and Makino look down, a frown appearing on her face and the grip on her sword slipping.

"Because I would have sensed you boarding." He answered quickly. "Now I will ask you again what are you doing here?" he asked firmly his hand shifting down to his swords.

Seeing hand move she took the hint and answered him. "I needed to get to Shell town so I hitchhiked on their ship to get there, you guys came along and I swapped ships," she lied smoothly.

Luffy knew she was lying with his Haki but didn't speak up. "Ok we're heading there now you can stay with us, just stay where I can see you and hand over you weapon." He said with a hand out.

"Weapon? What weapon?"

"You mean you don't have a bo-staff strapped to your back?" He asked with a quizzical look and his head tilted.

The girl gasp a little and then sighed as she reached for her bo-staff behind her back and handed it to Luffy who put it in his pocket.

"Thank you. Let her go Makino but keep an eye on her." Luffy said and turned back to the growing island.

* * *

Arriving near the island anchored the ship and boarded a row boat to go the island along with Maya, Coby and the girl, Makino said she would stay on the boat.

Arriving at the docks they all got off and Luffy turned to Nami and handed her, her bo-staff.

"Here you are, now off you go." He said while making a shooing motion with his hands. And with that she ran off. Turning to the others "Come let's get to the marine base." Luffy said but just as he finished a small growl made itself known. Both Coby and Luffy turned to Maya who was standing beside them, who just gave a sheepish smile. "On second thought let's go eat first."

So they started walking down the streets and eventually came across a bar to eat at.

Walking in they sat down at the bar and a woman came up to them. "What can I get you?" She asked in a cheerful tone.

"A glass of orange juice please." Coby answered

Maya sat with a pondering look upon her face as she looked at a menu, "Apple juice and spaghetti please!" Maya finally answered smiling

"A bottle of rum and anything you can tell me about what goes on around here." Luffy asked and answered.

The lady came back after a few minutes with the drinks placing 3 glasses and a bottle of rum down. "The food will be ready soon. As for the info I guess I can help you. The village is like any other I guess, the Marine base here is run by a dictator marine called Captain Morgan. He forces people to worship him and make us pay tributes to him, his son Helmeppo who uses his father's name to get everything to terrorise the town, recently he arrested 'Pirate Hunter' Zoro because he killed his dog who were going to attack my daughter." The lady said.

"Zoro? As in Roronoa Zoro? The swordsman who uses 3 swords?" Luffy asked

"Yes. Why?" The lady asked curious

"I've been looking from him. You wouldn't happen to know where he would be, would you?"

"I guess at the marine base."

Luffy stood up and made his way to the door, "I'll be back in a bit, Maya stay here with Coby please."

As Luffy walked down the street he drew curious looks from his attire but he ignored them and continued on his way until he came across a wall standing before the Marine base and a ladder parked up against it.

Curious climbed up the ladder and peered over the side and saw a girl standing in front of a man tied to a cross. _'I guess I found Zoro'_ He thought. As he watched the proceedings he figured out that the little girl was trying to feed Zoro what looked like Rice balls but Zoro refused.

Eventually the gates to the little area opened and in walked a blonde hair man in a bowl cut and a small group of Marines behind him.

Leaning he closer he started to hear the conversation.

"Now now don't bully little children Roronoa." The bowl haired man said

"Well if it isn't bastard's son." Zoro replied

"Now now Zoro, but please I know you're a cold hearted person but is bullying children really necessary?" Looking towards the girl he said "Now what do we have here hm?" He took what looked like a rice ball from the girl and took a bite from it and started chewing only to immediately spit it out again. "Ugh, that's disgusting, rice balls use SALT not SUGAR you stupid girl!" The man yelled down at her throwing her rice balls on the ground and stomping on them. Turning to a Marine behind him he said, "You throw her over the wall for trespassing."

The Marine obviously protested but complied when the man threatened to tell his father.

' _So this is the Captains son? Looks like a dick…"_ Were Luffy's current thoughts, as he watched the marine begin to drag the girl towards the wall, he saw in his eyes deviate to him giving him a pleading look, Luffy nodded and jumped from the wall to catch a screaming girl flying over it.

Catching her he set her on the ground. "You alright?" He asked smiling gently down at the girl in his arms.

The girl who was now looking up at him nodding her head. "Thank-you mister."

Luffy smiled. "It's alright, now what's your name and what were you doing in there?" he asked.

"My name is Rika and I was trying to feed Zoro because he hasn't eaten in weeks but then Helmeppo came and he got the Marine to through me over the wall and then you caught me."

"Ok then, why you wander off home and I'll go talk to Zoro."

Rika nodded and ran off back in the direction of the town as Luffy got back up and leaped over the wall and headed in the direction of Zoro.

Stopping in front of him Zoro looked up and narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Luffy, Monkey D Luffy." He replied taking off his hat in an exaggerated bow. Zoro grunted in return.

"Why are you here?" Zoro asked.

"I come with a proposition for you." Luffy said. Zoro merely raised an eye brow. "I wish you to join my crew."

"You a pirate?" Zoro asked, Luffy nodded. "Then no." Luffy frowned.

"What is your dream in life?" Luffy asked

This confused Zoro but he answered anyway. "To be the strongest swordsman in the world."

Luffy couldn't help but laugh. "What's so funny?" Zoro questioned quite offended.

"You *laugh* want to *laugh* be greatest swordsman *laugh* yet here you are *laugh* in East Blue *laugh* tied to a cross!" he managed to get out still laughing with Zoro glaring at him.

After calming down and catching his breath Luffy looked to Zoro. "Sorry about that. But why no?"

"Because you're a filthy pirate, your scum."

"And the Marine Captain here isn't?" Nodding his in the direction of the Marine base.

Zoro nodded his head and looked at Luffy curiously, "What are you getting at?" he asked.

"There are bad Marines who are meant to be the 'good' guys" doing air quotations on the good part "So why can't there be good pirates who just want to sail the sea without having to worry about laws and taxes."

"I take it your one of these pirate." Zoro said.

"Indeed I am, I aim to Pirate King. He is the man who has the most freedom in the world. And that is what I want."

Zoro looked at Luffy as if he was contemplating something. "I take it you were trained to use those swords." Gesturing to the two on Luffy's hip.

Luffy nodded. "By one of the best, I could give Mihawk a good duel."

Zoro's eyes widened momentarily. He nodded "I'll make you a deal, you get my swords and free me. And I'll join you on your journey; maybe add in training here and there."

Luffy nodded. "Ok, it's a deal. I'll be back in a bit." And with that he ran off to the base.

* * *

Luffy was wondering around the base with a precautionary hand on his swords. There was one problem though.

"WHERE THE HELL IS EVERYBODY!?" Luffy yelled his patience finally breaking.

Calming himself, he stood still and reached out with his observation haki. _'Why the hell are they all on the roof?!"_

Sighing to himself he began trudging to the roof to be greeted with a sight of the entire Marine base pulling up a stone statue of Captain Morgan, or 'Axe Hand' Morgan as he is more commonly know, with the man himself over seeing the proceedings.

Luffy looked over the statue with a critical eye and clicked open and sword and smirked.

* * *

Captain Morgan stood towards the back of the roof overlooking his soldiers pulling up a statue of himself, a tribute to his power and rule.

As he was watching the Marines pull up the statue when it was suddenly sliced in half. Morgan and the Marine watched in shock as the statue's top half slipped off and fell all the way to the ground crumbling on impact. The bottom half now unstable crashed to the ground in front of the Marine as they watched it crack and break before their eyes.

The sound of a sheathing sword turned their attention towards Luffy who was standing by the door to the roof sheathing his sword without a care in the world.

Shacking in rage Morgan addressed Luffy. "WHO ARE YOU!? YOU DARE DEFY ME!?" he shouted at Luffy.

Luffy finished sheathing his sword with a *click* and look at Morgan, tilting his head to the side he decided to play with Morgan for a bit.

He looked around him in an exaggerated manner he turned back to Morgan and pointed to himself.

"YES YOU, YOU MORON!"

Luffy's mouth formed a small 'o' and he nodded his head. "Monkey D Luffy" he said in another exaggerated bow. "And I destroyed that sorry excuse of a statue because it was ruining the scenery." Luffy said nonchalantly.

The Marines were astonished at how Luffy addressed their leader.

Just as Morgan was about to charge at Luffy for blatantly disrespecting him a loud "DAAAAAAAAAAAD" pierced the quiet that loomed over the roof. Everyone turned just in time to see Helmeppo run though the door to the roof.

"Ah just the person I was looking for!" Luffy exclaimed picking up Helmeppo by his collar and dragging him back off the roof leaving a bunch of confused Marines behind.

* * *

Currently Luffy was marching through the halls looking for Zoro's swords. "Alright Onion-head where are you keeping Zoro's swords?" he questioned the man he was dragging behind him.

"If you stop dragging me I'll tell you." Helmeppo yelled back at him.

Luffy stopped and picked him up by the collar and looked him in the eyes. "Ok then where are they?" he asked

Shacking at the look Luffy was giving him. "They're in my room, we just passed it." Helmeppo replied pointing back down the hall.

Sighing Luffy turned around only to come face to face with a small group of Marines. They raised their guns at him when they noticed him turning. The lead one raised his voice saying, "Pirate drop Helmeppo-sama and surrender or we will shoot!" The Marine exclaimed.

Rolling his eyes he released a small burst of his Conquers Haki knocking out the group in an instant. Carrying on his merry way, Luffy stepped over the unconscious bodies and strolled up towards a pink door which worried him when he saw the name upon it _'Helmeppo'._

Opening the door Luffy realized it was worse than he thought, Pink…Pink everywhere. Suppressing the urge to obliterate the room out of existence, Luffy turned to the man in his grip only to found out his was unconscious as well.

Shrugging he dropped Helmeppo unceremoniously on the ground and looked around the room, grabbing his wrist after he found it unconsciously reaching towards his sword, he smiled when he noticed Zoro's own standing in the corner.

Walking over he grabbed the 3 swords and tied them to his back and came across a scene while looking out of his window, Coby standing in the courtyard with Zoro and Morgan and a few squads of Marines aiming guns and them. _'Didn't I tell him to stay at the bar?"_ Sighing and his friends' misfortune Luffy opened the window and with a mutter of **'Mizu Mizu: Jettosutorīmu'** he shot out of the window towards the yard.

* * *

Morgan stood behind his Marines who were pointing their rifles at the 'pests' as he called them. One who was shacking in fear, the other was staring defiantly at him.

Snorting he gave the order, "FIRE". The Marines complying just as a flash of red zipped in front of them.

' **Mizu Mizu: UORU'**

A wall of water appeared between the 2 sides with Luffy standing behind it and hand our toughing the wall slightly. Bullets could be seen floating inside of it.

"Afternoon." Luffy said

Disabling the wall he turned to Zoro and gave him the swords who nodded in thanks.

Turning to Coby he looked at him with question in his eyes. "I thought I told you to stay with Maya?"

Coby opened and closed his mouth multiple times trying to formulate an excuse.

Rolling his eyes Luffy turned to see Zoro blocking a bunch of Marines with his 3 swords. "I take it your joining me then?" He asked

Zoro nodded his head and looked at him from the corner of his eye. "Yeah, a deal is a deal."

"Good, now duck!" Luffy called. Gearing up his leg he yelled ' **Mizu Mizu: Rankyaku'** and kicked his leg towards the marines, a blade of water shooting towards them at high speeds.

Zoro just managed to roll out of the way when the blade impacted the marines, cutting through their swords and making pretty big slices on the chests of the unsuspecting marines.

Morgan narrowed his eyes and made himself know once more. "I see you ate a devil fruit." He said looking towards Luffy.

Luffy nodded. "I did, a water logia to be precise." He replied shocking Zoro who admittedly was quite confused.

"Devil fruit? Logia?" He questioned. Zoro commented, looking at Luffy curiously.

Noticing the look Luffy said, "I'll explain later Zoro." Who merely nodded his agreement.

Suddenly a *click* interrupted the proceeding in the courtyard. Everyone turned to see Helmeppo standing next to a shacking Coby with a pistol aimed at his head.

"S-Stop or I'll shoot him!" Helmeppo declared. Staring straight at them, though you could see the hesitation in his eyes.

Luffy looked curiously at him with an eyebrow raised. Using his observation he sensed that Morgan was using the distraction to attack him from behind. Giving Zoro a glance he saw that he was looking to counter Morgan and gave him a small nod which he caught and gave his own nod back.

Turing his attention back to Helmeppo he looked him the eyes and asked. "Are you going to shoot him?" While slowly gathering water at the tips of his fingers.

"W-what?" Helmeppo said stuttering

"Are you going to shoot him?" He repeated, carefully noticing that Morgan was almost behind him.

"O-Of course, but I won't if you surrender." He said trying to fill himself with confidence.

Luffy smiled, "Well then you should shoot him because I'm not surrendering!" Realizing that Morgan was right behind him, he yelled **'Mizu Mizu: Hari Danmaku'** sending 10 needles from the tips of his fingers towards Helmeppo just as Zoro took out Morgan behind him. 6 of the needles went to his arm disabling it and the final 2 stuck to his knees making him collapse from the lack of support.

"hm, that was easy." Zoro said breaking the scilence

"Meh, it was to be expected, we are only in the East Blue" Luffy reminded.

Both turned at the sound of thumping boots to see a couple dozen Marines at the gates to the courtyard. They looked ready to attack when they noticed Morgan on the floor and immediately began cheering.

"Seems he wasn't well liked here…" Luffy speculated

"Can you blame them?" Zoro countered smirking.

Luffy just shrugged in agreement.

The cheering continued as the 3 walked back to the café.

As they entered, Luffy was tackled once more by a black blur. Suppressing a grunt from the surprisingly strong 4 year old he caught her and hugged Maya.

Maya giggled when Luffy stumbled once again. She cheered and exclaimed, "Yay, nii-san did you beat up some bad guys?!"

Luffy chuckled and ruffled her hair, "Of course. Who else was gonna do it? This guy?" He said jerking his head in Zoro's direction who scowled in response…and then face planted. "Er.." Was Luffy only comment.

A muffled moan was heard from Zoro. "Foooooood" was heard next, also muffled.

Luffy turned to Zoro with a concerned eye, and looked towards the woman behind the counter who was looking curiously at the scene. "Buffet for 1 please."

* * *

(1 buffet later)

*BUUUUUUURP*

"You're excused." Luffy replied to Zoro's outburst while nibbling on a sandwich he decided to get himself. But while he may look it he was deep in thought about what to do with Maya.

"Thanks." Zoro said leaning against the bar patting his stomach. A tower of plates beside him a bewildered head popped out from behind them. Ririka, the woman's named that they later learned; looked shocked at the amount of food Zoro ate.

*BAM*

The door to the café slammed open and a squad of Marines piled in. The leader stepped forward and spoke in a clear deep voice addressing the group. "Are you pirates?" He asked

"More or less" was Luffy reply

The leader raised an eyebrow at the weird answer. "Then please leave, while yes you did save our town so as thanks we won't arrest you."

Sighing Luffy agreed, "Ok we're leaving. But before we go I need to speak with you about something."

The captain looked sceptical but nodded anyway and followed Luffy out of the Café.

* * *

It was a good 20 minutes before both re-emerged. But eventually the Captain agreed to take the refugees and pay the bounties of the Alvida pirates.

This is where we are now. The Oceans Freedom was docked in Shell Town's port and the Alvida pirates were taken into custody by some Marines and the refugees had all left.

Currently Makino and Luffy are saying goodbye to the villagers of Foosha as the Marines and Zoro loaded the last of the bounty money aboard the ship.

He was talking with Woop went he felt something tugging at his coat. Looking down he saw Maya looking up at him curiously, "When are we leaving Luffy-nii?" She questioned

Luffy sighed. Truthfully he wasn't sure if he should take her with him…she was 4 for crying out loud…a pirate ship was no place for a child, but he didn't want to leave her alone again especially after she lost her parents a day ago it would break her if she lost Luffy as well. He decided to let her persuade him.

Luffy crouched down to her level and looked her in the eyes. "Why do you assume that you are coming with us?" He asked

Maya's face fell "What do you mean?"

Luffy sighed, "Maya…" He sat on the ground and pulled her into his lap and hugged her close. "I'm am a pirate, you know this right?" Maya nodded. "It is because of that you can't come, I can't fight Marines and other pirates while defending you at the same time."

"But why not?! You were strong enough to fight that Admiral," That shocked some of the Marines, "why can't you do this as well, What about Makino?!" She had tears in her eyes now.

"She can't because she will be fighting as well. And I can't give you your own body guard because I will need all crew members to fight in the coming years. It would un-fortunately be all hands on deck during battle." They had almost everyone's attention now.

"Then train me!" This was Maya's last ditch effort.

"What?" Luffy asked

"Train me. You trained Makino how to defend herself why can't you train me?" Maya almost shouted at him.

Luffy looked down, deep in thought. He looked up at Makino who nodded her head, and then up and Woop who looked also deep in thought. He sighed and nodded his head in agreement.

Luffy closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "Ok Maya you win, you can come."

Maya leaped up and cheered loudly. "Yes! I will be the Pirate Kings little sister!" Many chuckled at that.

"Makino in my Cabin there is a chest, can you grab it for me?" Luffy asked. She nodded and ran off.

"Right, Maya front and centre!" She was immediately there. "I am making some ground rules here and you will follow them without protest! Is that clear?" Maya nodded. "Ok first rule. You will listen to what ever another high standing crew member tell you to do, weather it being to washing the dishes to making peoples bunks in the morning. Clear." A nod. "Second if I tell you to run and hide, to will run and hid to the greatest of your ability immediately. Clear?" Another nod. "Finally when training you will do so to the best of you ability and without slacking off. Clear?" A final nod. "Good!" Luffy smiled.

Makino came down the gang plank with a chest under her arm. "Here you are Luffy."

"Ah thanks."

"What's in the box Lu-nii?" asked Maya

"This is something to help your training." He opened the box to revel…

"A devil fruit…." Makino breathed.

"Indeed, I found it on Alvida's ship, I was originally going to sell it but I seem to have found a new use for it. This, my dear Maya is the **Dankai Danki no mi** , and you are going to eat it."

Maya literally had stars in her eyes as she looked at the fruit. Luffy chuckled and closed the box chucking it to Zoro who caught it and put it under his arm.

"Alright we should get going, I'm sure you want to start training and just by looking at Zoro I can tell he is just bursting with questions."

And so the group of 4 boarded the ship and left the dock waving to the populace of both villages as they sailed further and further away.

The adventure had only just begun…

* * *

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! Finished!

Man that was rough. Sorry about the long wait guys, things came up and my comp through multiple hissy fits over the months disrupting my work but I finally finished the chapter.

I hope you liked it so I'll see ya next time! Bye!

 **Translations:**

 **Mizu Mizu: Jettosutorimu - Water Water: Jet stream**

 **Mizu Mizu: Uoru – Water Water: Wall**

 **Mizu Mizu: Rankyaku – Water Water: Tempest Kick**

 **Mizu Mizu: Hari Danmaku – Water Water: Needle Barrage**

 **Dankai Danki no mi: Phase Phase fruit**


	7. Meeting a navigator and Clowning around!

The Rising Tides

Hey guys can I get a cookie?

Anyway cookies aside got a new chapter up cause I'm just that nice to ya all :)

Hope you like it!

"Talking"

' _Thoughts'_

*Noises or Actions*

' **Attacks'**

I don't own One Piece

* * *

It had been a few hours later and they were currently still in the water so Luffy could rest. With or without the villagers onboard pushing the boat is still exhausting.

They had just finished the tour of the ship and currently Maya was with Makino by the helm leaning… more civil stuff than what Luffy would be teaching her.

Zoro and Luffy were standing side by side at the bow of the ship overlooking the ship.

Zoro decided to interrupt the silence with a question. "Captain, seeing as I have had the tour of the ship, I was wondering, what is my position on the crew?"

Luffy chuckled, "I was wondering when you'd ask. You're going to be first mate and the ship's resident swordsman."

"First mate? I thought that was Makino?" Zoro replied

"Unfortunately no…while yes she is a pirate working on this ship she dislikes fighting unless she is defending herself." Luffy answered

"Whys that?"

"She's coming with me to the Grandline to meet my mentor who she has fallen for, and likewise for him. Meaning there is a first mate position open, unless you want a 4 year old doing so."

"Fair point." Zoro Conceded. Zoro looked over to Maya and a frown appeared on his face and he took a glance at Luffy which was not missed.

"What?" He asked

"Why is she coming? I mean I know why she's here but why? What happened that put her in your care. Did it have something to do with the villagers?" Zoro

Luffy sighed. He knew this question was coming soon or later. "Alright seeing as you are the first mate I guess you can privy to some of the things that happened," And over the next half hour he explained the things of his training and the buster call up until this point.

After the explanation Zoro had a noticeable scowl on his face. "I always thought they were corrupted, but not to this extent…exterminate an island just for one man…" Luffy noticeable twitched at that.

After watching the ocean for a couple more minutes Zoro spoke up once again. "Captain?"

"Hm?"

"What the deal with your Devil Fruit. I've heard that they are hammers in water because it drains all their power and energy. But you are water, what happens to you?" He asked

"Unfortunately I am like the rest." Luffy answered

"Why's that?"

"I'm not entirely sure, the water that affects Devil Fruit users is natural water, correct?"

"Yeah, your point?"

"Because my Devil Fruit **gave** me water powers I don't think that I am natural water based, thus I am still affected by large areas of water. This also means that my water does not affect other Devil Fruit users. But I'm not entirely sure, but this was the best theory Shanks and I came up with. But still being water based I have limited control over the natural sources of water which I can use to my advantage thankfully."

"Shanks, as in Red Haired Shanks? He was your mentor?" Zoro asked looking shocked

"Yep, him and his crew. We sailed the Grandline for 5 years. Best 5 years of my life yet."

"Then why are you going back?"

"Because I want to start my own journey, from scratch. Most people would kill for a head start but not me. I'm gonna become pirate king all the way from the bottom." Luffy concluded.

Zoro nodded accepting the answer.

Hours later and other pointless conversations Luffy felt his power return and decided it was time to start moving again. "Come on, if we get going now we'll be there by tomorrow afternoon."

* * *

It was around midnight and a Luffy clone was sailing the ship as the others rested. All was quiet on the ship apart from the soft sound of waves against the hull and the breeze in the sails.

That was until a piercing cry engulfed the ship alerting everybody onboard and throwing Luffy out of his bed when he recognised the person that it came from.

Practically falling down every step in a sleepy daze, Luffy arrived at the women's quarters and entered…only to be blindsided by once again a black blur, which this time actually knocked him off his feet and out of the door.

Instinctively he wrapped his arms around the hysterical girl and held her close to his chest rubbing her head as she sobbed into his chest.

Looking up he spotted Makino by the door. She mouthed _'Nightmare'._ Luffy nodded and looked back down at Maya and picked her up. He walked past Makino and into the room and sat down on the hammock. He started to gently rock Maya back and forth in an attempt to calm her but it was for naught. Suddenly and idea came to mind and he decided to try it. He started to hum a melody and sung,

 _Hush now sister don't you cry_

 _Brother is here so hold your tears_

 _There's no need to be racked with sobs_

 _Because brother is here to comfort you_

 _Hush now sister don't be afraid_

 _Brother is here to protect you life_

 _There's no need to be shaken with fear_

 _Because brother will never leave your side_

 _Hush now sister don't be sad_

 _Brother is here so don't be sombre_

 _There's no need to be so gloomy_

 _Because brother is here to cheer you up_

 _Hush now sister don't feel alone_

 _Brother is here right by your side_

 _There no need to feel unloved_

 _Because brother loves you with all his heart._

Luffy breathed a sigh of relief when he finished the lullaby. Maya had stopped crying and was only hiccupping every now and then.

Looking up from Maya he saw Makino with a soft smile on her face and tears in her eyes from the melody Luffy sung and even Zoro was there with what looked like a smile, leaning against the door frame.

"You alright now?" Luffy asked directing his attention to the girl in his arms. He received a nod as his answer. He turned to put Maya down in the hammock but she wouldn't let go of him. "Do you want to come sleep with me?" Another nod. "Alright."

Hooking his arm under her he let her rest her head on his shoulder

"Go back to sleep, I'll see you in the morning." Luffy told the other two who nodded and went back to their lodgings.

Luffy continued up the stairs and entered his room.

It was a modest room for a captain. On entry to the room, the first thing you see is a large table in the centre able to accommodate 4 chairs on each length and 2 on each width allowing 12 to sit. To the right of the door way was a coat stand with both Luffy's coat and hat upon it. Further right was a liquor cabinet already housing various bottles of alcohol from sake and whiskey to rum. Against the right wall there are 2 bookcases which were already containing various books. To the left of the door was a cork board, this was reserved for when his crew got bounties and he could display them better. In the left corner was a desk which fit in the corner and a rounded centre giving it a curve towards the corner. There were already papers and maps strewn across it. In the top left corner was his bathroom with a toilet and basin to wash with. In the right corner was a single bed which was messed up, evidence of Luffy's quick exit. A table sat beside it with his swords resting against it. On the centre wall at the back was a large window over-looking sea.

Luffy walked over to the bed with Maya still in his arms and sat down on the bed and rested his back against the wall and gently stroked Maya's hair.

"Did you really mean it?" Came a quiet voice.

"Hm?" Luffy looked down at Maya

"Did you mean what you said in your song?" Maya looked up at Luffy with hopeful eyes.

Luffy smiled softly and leaned down to kiss the top of her head. "Every word."

Maya's eyes brightened and she snuggled into Luffy's chest some more. "I love you to Lu-nii." She said softly before her breathing evened out and she fell asleep.

Luffy smiled and lay down with Maya still on his chest and covered them both. A few minutes later he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

* * *

It was mid afternoon and they sailing again after a short lunch. Makino was up in the crow's nest with Maya again and Zoro was beside Luffy at the helm napping.

Luffy was thinking about the crew members he needed. He needed a navigator that was for sure. He may be able to navigate the East Blue and know which direction to go in and how long it would take. But he needed someone who was better than him, someone able to predict future weather and the sea currents to get to places faster.

He sighed. He just realized that finding crew members who are good in their positions and strong as well was going to be tricky. Oh boy…

Currently he was silently watching the horizon for the upcoming orange town. Hopefully he can get some supplies there, they were running out of a few things and Maya needed a new set of clothes…badly…seriously they stank…and were dirty…moving on!

"Land ahoy!" Came a childish shout from the crow's nest.

Luffy blinked and looked up to see Maya giggling with a spyglass in her hand and pointing towards the island that was slowly coming into view before the ship. "Thanks Madame look-out!" He called back smiling. He heard her giggle as she disappeared once more.

He nudged Zoro with his foot as he set his eyes on the growing island, who grunted and opened an eye. "Wake up, we're almost there." Luffy said.

Zoro grunted again and stood up, looking towards the island. "Where are with going?" Zoro asked

"Orange Town, I heard rumours Buggy was camping out there and we need new clothes, especially Maya." Luffy replied

"OOOOOIII" three voices yelled off to the side.

Luffy and Zoro looked over and saw 3 people floating in the water. "Castaways or abandoners?" Luffy questioned, Zoro shrugged

"HELP US!" the 3 cried again.

Luffy sighed; walking down to the side of the ship he grabbed rope along the way and chucked it to them. Zoro came to stand beside him. "Grab on!"

The 3 grabbed the rope and Luffy hauled them aboard. They grinned sickeningly and jumped up and pointed their swords at Luffy and Zoro.

"This ship is now under the command of the BUGGY PIRATES!" the middle one shouted.

*Swish*

The 3 swords were cut in half, the other piece clanged to the floor. Luffy looked on in amusement as Zoro clicked Wado back into place. "You were saying?" Zoro said calmly

The 3 looked at each other and back at Luffy and Zoro before yelling "WE SURRENDER!" while dropping their hilts and throwing their hands in the air…and Luffy face palmed…

Sighing once again he knocked them out with a quick burst of haki, and tied them up with the rope he brought them aboard with. Luffy and Zoro walked back to the helm and a clone of Luffy dragged the 3 to the brig. "Moving on…"

* * *

Luffy, Maya and Zoro walked off the small boat they used to get to the dock. Makino stayed behind to guard the ship.

Luffy looked around at the town. It was abandoned. Houses and streets were empty, market stalls had nothing to sell. And a lone buggy the clown ship sat in the docks.

"Well Buggy is defiantly here…" Zoro said

"Yeah I'm beginning to think bringing Maya was a bad idea." Luffy replied, eyes still wandering the town. Sighing he grabbed Maya's hand tightly and proceeded forward, "Come on, Stay close Maya." Maya nodded and gripped his hand tighter slowly moving closer to him.

(Half an Hour later)

They had been walking down the street for a while now, and still everything was empty. Being the cautious man he was Luffy stretched his Observation haki as far as he could and he sensed 4 people running towards them.

"Hold up" he said and moved Maya behind him. He rested a hand on his swords and prepared to take them out of their sheaths.

"What is it?" Zoro asked, also moving a hand towards his weapons when he saw Luffy's movement.

"4 people are running towards us" Luffy answered.

"How can you tell?"

"Haki" Luffy said and received a confused look in response. Rolling his eyes, "I'll explain later." He got a nod that time.

Seconds later an orange haired girl came running round a corner and smashed into Luffy sending her on her on rear and Luffy not moving and inch. More seconds later and three clowns came crashing round the corner. Luffy would have laughed if they hadn't been holding swords but he swore he heard a small giggle from behind him.

The girl in front of stood up abruptly. Recognition flashed in both their eyes but hers held a bit of deviance within them. "Hey boss you made it! Can you deal with these jokers?" And with that she ran off…somewhere…

Luffy raised an eye brow and looked at the 'jokers'. "It seems we have been played Zoro." Luffy said. Zoro nodded his agreement. "Do you want to or shall I?" Luffy questioned.

Zoro shrugged, "Be my guest." He felt a pressure wash over him and the 3 pirates fell over unconscious.

Luffy grabbed Maya when he felt he stumble against his back because of the use of his Conquers haki. He turned and picked her up resting her head on his shoulder again.

"Lu-Nii I feel sleepy." Maya's quiet voice spoke up.

"I know if you want you can sleep. I got you." Luffy replied.

Maya snuggled into his shoulder and feel asleep almost instantly after he said. Luffy smiled softly at her and turned to Zoro and nodded his head in the direction to walk in.

They started off until Luffy abruptly stopped. He looked toward the roof of a building beside them.

The orange haired girl was staring at them from the roof. "That was quick. You must be strong." She exclaimed

"Where are you going with this?" Luffy answered, an eye brow raised.

The girl jumped onto the ground and walked towards them, "My name is Nami, and as thanks I'll give you lunch!" She exclaimed and walked onwards down the street.

Zoro looked at Luffy questionable who shrugged and followed the woman, Zoro walked after him.

(Minutes later)

The 3 walked into the house with 1 being carried and closed the door. Luffy spotted a couch up against the wall and set Maya down against it, he took of his coat folding it and put it under her head to use as a pillow.

"This your house?" He heard Zoro ask.

"No merely borrowing from it." Was Nami's replied

"So you're stealing?" Luffy interjected.

"No, I'm borrowing, I only steal from pirates." She shot back.

Luffy caught a glance from Zoro. "Anyway you said you were going to feed us?" Luffy said trying to change the subject.

"Ah yes!" Nami yelled jumping up.

Zoro sat down at the table and Luffy wandered round the bottom floor of the house. He found a fridge and looked in it. "BOOOZE!" he yelled. Zoro perked up at that.

"Oi Oi, is there sake?" He shouted out to Luffy.

"YUP!" Was the response back.

A minute later Luffy came in with bottles of alcohol held between his arms and he dumped them all on the table. "Here we are, let's see some sake for Zoro… and some whiskey for me because they didn't have any rum." Luffy said splitting the pile between him and his first mate.

"Cheers Cap'n." Zoro said clicking bottles with Luffy. They both took large swigs of their drink just as Nami came back in with a large plate of sandwiches. They all began eating and Luffy took a smaller plate and put some sandwiches on it and walked over to where Maya was sleeping.

He shook her lightly causing her to stir. "Here have something to eat." She nodded sleepily and took to plate, eating the sandwiches on it slowly.

Luffy rubbed her head and went to sit back down at the table grabbing another bottle of whiskey to drink from. "So tell me what a girl is doing her in a town occupied by Buggy the Clown." Luffy asked looking at Nami from under the brim of his hat.

"If you must know I'm stealing a map of the Grandline." Nami answered

"Why, pray tell are you going to the Grandline?"

"I've heard that the bigger pirates go there, bigger the name the more treasure they have."

Luffy raised an eyebrow. "Really? Then please tell me how you navigate the Grandline." He leaned forward placing his elbows on the table, linking his fingers together and placing his head upon them.

"Isn't it with just a compass?" She answered naively. Luffy burst out laughing, almost falling out of his chair. "What?" Nami asked angrily.

Trying to regain his breathing, he answered, "You…think you can…navigate the…Grandline with a compass…" he began laughing again. Calming down he looked at Nami who was look at him with fury in her eyes.

"What's so funny?"

"Tell me girl, what do you know about the Grandline?" Luffy asked her, serious once again.

"Isn't it like any other sea?" She said questioningly.

"No, truthfully you wouldn't survive a day out in that sea. Its weather patterns change in the blink of an eye, the magnetic field defies logic. That's not even counting the pirates there, they're ruthless and a lot stronger than the one's here. There is a reason why we are the weakest sea." Luffy replied

"How do you know all this?" Nami asked sceptically

' _May as well get it over with.'_ "Because I trained there for 5 years with my mentor, Red Haired Shanks."

Zoro's mouth dropped and the bottle of sake he was holding slipped out his hand and smashed on the floor.

Nami's eyes darkened and she moved her hand to her back. "So you are a pirate." She said darkly.

Before she could blink, the where chains made of water detaining her, the ends of the chain were pointed and aimed at her jugular. She looked at Luffy to see him holding his fist out at her palm up, with his index and middle finger pointing at her.

' **Mizu Mizu: Chenrinku'** he whispered. He flared his Conquers haki at her, enough to make her shake in her boots, but just below the amount to make her pass out. He made sure to direct the haki away from Maya, who went back to sleep after eating. "Listen here girl, because I shall not repeat what I shall say. This is just a taste of the power I have and many others in that sea posses the same. Understand this you WILL die out there without proper understanding of how things go in there." Luffy explained with a serious look on his face.

Luffy released the haki so she could breath and dropping his fist releasing the chains so she could move again. "Know if you will excuse us I have a bug to squash." Luffy he walked over to Maya and picked her up. "Come Zoro."

The man in question nodded and finished off his drink before walking over to the door where Luffy was standing. Opening the door he walked out Luffy moved to follow him but stopped at a call.

"WAIT" Nami yelled.

"Hm?"

"I want to help you."

"What happened to hating pirates?"

She sighed. "I need money to buy a town back. I was here to steal the money from buggy. I wanted to help you if give me the money." She said reluctantly

"Are you a navigator?" Luffy asked

"Yeah why?"

"I we give you the money you have to join our crew." He said

"NO!" She instantly shouted

Luffy shrugged. "Suit yourself." And turned to walk out once more.

"WAIT!" Nami cried again

Luffy sighed, "What now?"

He heard a heavy sigh behind him. "Fine, but as soon I get all the money I need I'm leaving. This is a partnership, nothing else."

"Fine." And he FINALLY left the building.

When he walked out the door he saw Zoro looking at him questionably. He just shrugged and shook his head in resignation. "She is going to be the death of me…"

Nami walked out a minute later. "Alright, Buggy the clown, what the plan?"

"March up, insult him to make him angry, kick his ass." Luffy replied almost instantly.

Both his first mate and navigator look at him in bewilderment.

"I like it!" Zoro exclaimed at last.

"WHAT NO!" Was Nami's rebuttal

Zoro looked at her curiously. "What? It's a good plan."

"No it's not!" Nami replied darkly

Luffy just watched on in amusement as the two went back and forth in their argument.

"You know that's the back-up plan right?" Luffy interrupted, stopping both of their arguing

Both closed their mouths and looked at Luffy, one had the face of joy the other of sadness. I'll leave you to figure out which.

"Ok then Captain what's the real plan?" Zoro

Luffy created a water clone and handed Maya, who was still sleeping. Then he looked around and spotted some rope tying some creates together. Smiling he turned to the others. "Alright here's what we'll be doing."

* * *

(Queue mind fart…)

"Oi Buggy!" Nami called out. Walking up to where the Buggy Pirates crew were resting, trailing behind her was Luffy with his hands bounds being led by her.

Some of the lower grunts looked over at them. "Hey Boss it's the thief who stole the map!"

Luffy was startled, "You already had the map?!" He hissed at Nami who just glanced back at him and ignored the comment.

The grunts seemed to be talking with someone and a few moments later the two were taken to see buggy. They were led to what looked like a circus tent by a couple of the pirates, each one around had face paint on and tried to look intimidating, but the only thing that they looked like was stupid….Luffy showed this when he tried to suppress his laughter with bits coming out in snickers every now and then.

When they reached the entrance of the tent Nami was pushed in while Luffy was barred from entering. Some of the pirates thinking he was a prisoner decided to throw him into a cage at the edge of a drop of that the Buggy pirates were situated at.

Now Luffy was a patient man…but this was ridiculous. First he was tied up then dragged but someone who he could defeat with the flick of a finger and then these stupid, weak ass clowns throw him in a cage and start pelting him with food. And he couldn't activate he DF powers to avoid stating a ruckus so he had to take every single hit, and it was beginning to get very _**ANNOYING!**_

Nami came out of the tent to see Luffy sat in a cage with food stains over his cloths and his eyebrow twitching fast enough that it could fly off at any minute, she had to use all her strength to suppress a loud laugh.

Moment after Nami exited the tent and clown with blue hair and a big red nose walked out. Grinning broadly, "Listen up!" He yelled "This here is Nami, apparently he boss was going to betray her so she wants in on our crew!" he said "SO LETS PARTY! TO OUR NEW CREW MEMBER NAMI!" he yelled jumping up and down, the rest of the crew cheering and running around getting alcohol and food to eat.

* * *

The party had been going on for around half an hour now and Luffy was beginning to get hungry after watching everyone else eat and drink. He was pretty sure Zoro was getting bored of this as well.

A few moments after he thought this, Buggy called out, "Alright time for the MAIN event!"

' _Why do I have a bad feeling about this?'_ Was Luffy's current train of thought, a crowd was standing in front of his cage blocking his view of anything going on outside it. Eventually the crowd parted showing a cannon pointed straight at him. _'Ah that's why…'_

"Alright load the BUGGY BALL!" Buggy yelled. Some grunts loaded a red cannon ball into the cannon. "Ok Nami as a sign of good faith of joining our crew, I'll allow you to light the cannon to kill your former boss!" he said holding a box of matches out to her.

Nami took the matches and lit one, holding it over the fuse, she looked uncertainly towards Luffy.

Luffy caught the look and stared at her in the eyes. He nodded and mouthed 'Trust me'. Nami was still uncertain but lit the fuse anyway. The cannon tilted down at Luffy and went off.

Luffy closed his eyes and focused his attention on his DF powers.

*BOOM*

Smoke covered the area in which the cage lay, blocking the effects of the explosion and Luffy from view.

Moments later the smoke cleared to show and broken cage with a puddle in the middle and a small row of houses in behind it destroyed.

Nami's eyes widened when she saw the destruction and no sign of Luffy. "Whatcha lookin' at?" Was heard above them. They all turned to the centre tent and there was Luffy, sitting atop it eating a leg of chicken.

He cleaned off the bone and threw it at a clown, hitting him straight on the forehead and knocking him out. "Huh didn't think I threw it that hard…" Luffy pondered out loud. Everyone else blinked at the man now sleeping on the ground face down on the concrete. They all turned to look back at Luffy but it turned out he wasn't there anymore.

"What is it with you people and looking in random directions?" A voice came from the middle of them.

They yelled and jumped back away from him. "STOP DOING THAT!" they yelled, they blinked…it was empty again…

"Hm, nice stone work that is…" A voice announced from beside Buggy. And once again there was Luffy, casually leaning on Buggy's shoulder.

"That's it!" Buggy yelled throwing Luffy off his shoulder. "Get him!" he shouted

The pirates took heed of their Captains orders and drew blade and charged their opponent. Luffy rolled his eyes and let a small amount of haki knocking out all the pirates and making the others stumble.

Once everyone has fallen unconscious the only ones standing included Luffy, Nami, Buggy, and man standing on a unicycle and another man with what looked like ears and a mane of hair shaking a lion that was also unconscious.

"Right now the idiots are out of the way…shall we begin?" Luffy said.

"Ugh…" Buggy groaned, holding his head. Coming to his senses he looked at Luffy and his crew who lay unconscious on the ground and grew enraged. Forgetting that one man just wiped out his entire crew, Buggy yelled. "Cabaji deal with him!"

The man on the unicycle in question acknowledged the order and charged…cycled… at Luffy while drawing a sword.

Luffy narrowed his eyes at the incoming man and muttered, "Zoro".

The other man in question landed in front of his captain and blocked a swing from his opposing sword user. "You are using a sword. You shall be my opponent." He said, looking into Cabaji's eyes and smirking.

Cabaji smirked as well. "Very well, it would be an honour fighting the renowned Roronoa Zoro." His eyes darkened for a seconded before he shouted, **'Akurobatikku tokubetsu: Rōjin no honō'** and blew fire straight into his face.

Zoro shouted in pain when the fire reached his face and backed off, brushing his face to try and cool the inflamed skin.

Luffy winced at that but didn't have any time to carry on watching the fight as the hairy pirate flew at him aiming a punch at his head. Moving his body to the side he watched the man skid past him in an attempt to turn and try again but a haki infused fist to the back of the head sorted out that issue as the man was instantly KO-ed.

He looked around for Luffy but couldn't find her so he figured that she went off to steal things.

His attention was turned back to the fight when he heard **'Kuroru Bara Bara taiho'** from Buggy as his hand shot of, flying towards Zoro who was still fighting Cabaji who was currently floating in midair.

Luffy shot to intercept the flying gloved hand and stabbed a sword threw it, making sure to add haki. Buggy yelled out in pain and grabbed his wrist. "Stay out of the fight, it is between swordsmen." Luffy said darkly.

He pulled his sword out and allowed Buggy's hand to return to him. Buggy immediately grabbed his hand, trying to stem the flow of blood coming from it. He looked confused and angry. Confused as to how he got injured with a sword, and angry that Zoro would win against Cabaji in the duel eventually leaving him and the straw hat wearing man. The look in the end made him look constipated.

' **Akurobatikku tokubetsu: Raijingu hanabi'** yelled Cabaji as he shot down at Zoro. When he neared the ground Zoro leaped out of the way making Cabaji hit only concrete.

Zoro backed off as Cabaji straightened himself out. "It seems I have to beat you with one final attack" he said readying his sword. **'True sword technique'** he yelled and began swiftly closing the distance between him and Zoro. "Die!" he shouted

Zoro narrowed his eyes and readied his swords. **'Oni Giri'** whispered and slashed Cabaji as he passed him. No one moved for a few seconds before 3 slashes appeared on Cabaji's chest and blood exploded from them.

"Defeated, by thieves" were Cabaji's last works before him fell back unconscious.

"Cab-chan!" shouted Buggy horrified at the proceedings.

"No, not thieves, pirates." Zoro said sheathing his swords. Luffy smiled slightly hearing this, noticing that Zoro has accepted being part of his crew. "Luffy?" Zoro called as he sat down, leaning against some rubble.

"hm?" he replied

"I'm going to sleep. Wake me when we're leaving." Zoro asked.

"Will do." Luffy said and he turned his attention to Buggy who by now was glaring at Luffy in an attempt to make him burst into flames.

Unfortunately for him, it wasn't working. "Hm, it seems I have to defeat you by myself then." He said, trying to sound more intimidating and confident than he actually was.

"Indeed." Luffy said calmly. "Tell me Buggy, how are you going to do that?" he questioned, tilting his head to one side.

"Like this!" **'Bara Bara ho'** he yelled spring knives from his hand he shot his fist at Luffy who didn't even move. As the hand came near Luffy's chest Buggy grinned, expecting the blades to pierce him. His was not expecting however his hand to pass through Luffy body leaving a ripple effect behind it. "Whaaaa…?" Was all Buggy could get out

Luffy chuckled. "You see Buggy you I ate the Mizu Mizu fruit. It's a logia so unless you have Haki good luck hitting me." He said smiling.

Buggy growled and recalled his hand, it passing back through Luffy to get to him, thus cementing Luffy's statement.

As the two continued their stare off Nami was dragging a bag full of Buggy's jewels behind her. Turning a corner she saw the scene currently happening and wondered why they were standing around doing nothing.

A shout of **'Bara Bara Senbi'** drew her attention to Buggy as he sprouted knives from his feet and separated his lower half from his body. Then he proceeded to throw his legs cart wheeling at Luffy who again stood impassively at the approaching body part.

Alas apparently Buggy didn't learn from last time as his legs went straight through him and landed behind him. It was at this point that he noticed Nami behind Luffy with the bag beside her. Through an opening at the top he could see jewels and gold poking out the top.

When the realization came to him he screamed out in horror. "HEY!" he yelled. "What are you doing with my treasure?!"

Nami froze, realizing that she had been caught; she picked up the bag, slung it over her shoulders and began running as fast as she could.

"Oh no you don't" yelled Buggy **'Bara Bara Festival'** and the top half of his body split into pieces and started flying towards Nami, thus scaring the heebi jeebis out of her.

Luffy stood next to Buggy legs looking at the two. It was actually quite comical watching the two but Luffy knew he had to help Nami in her endeavour. As he pondered what to do he eyed the pair of legs beside him. Suddenly he got an idea. Arguable a very dirty idea but hey he was a pirate.

Moving behind the legs he channelled haki to his right leg and swung…directly into Buggy's personal jewels, giving Buggy a haki powered nutcracker. (shiver…)

The Buggy ahead of him suddenly froze; the expression on his face was the epitome pain that no man wants to feel. All was quiet before and ear piercing girl like squeal erupted from Buggy making bats wake up and dogs to howl at the sky. Slowly one by one the pieces of Buggy's body fell to the ground, his head being the last.

Nami looked behind wondering what the scream was about, only to see Buggy on the ground unconscious with his face contorted in pain. Looking around curios as to why Buggy was like this.

When she spotted Luffy dragging over the other half of his body with was curled tightly in a ball and looked like it wasn't moving for a while, she put the pieces together and almost felt sorry for Buggy…almost.

"Why…Why did you do that? Isn't there like a sacred rule between men to never do that to another?" Nami asked

Luffy just shrugged. "Meh I'm a pirate remember. We're above rules like that." Luffy said, not caring he most likely just crushed Buggy's balls out of existence.

"right how could I forget…" Nami muttered.

As Luffy started tying Buggy's body parts together a small ball of water formed itself above Zoro and fell on him, causing him to wake up yelling and spluttering.

Looking down at his drenched clothes Zoro figured out that Luffy was the culprit and started yelling, "What the hell Luffy!" he shouted

Luffy shrugged again, "You said to wake you up, not how to." He said calmly. "Besides I need you help with something."

Grumbling Zoro got up and walked over to Luffy. When he got close he caught something aimed at his head. At closer inspection he realized it was the body parts of Buggy, looking up at Luffy with a raised eyebrow.

Luffy grinned. "Come-on Zoro we're going to play a game. It called Buggy shooting." He said spreading his legs and lifting his two hands up. Zoro smirked slightly as he got the idea that Luffy was trying to put across.

"Pull!" Luffy yelled. Zoro threw the 'package' in the air. **'Mizu Mizu: Taiho'** Luffy yelled aiming at the projectile. This time throwing both his fists forward instead of just one for bullet, thus a much larger and stronger ball of water flew towards Buggy. In the end Buggy flew off the island to lands unknown. "Come-on let's get going." Luffy said.

Turning and walking towards the docks. Zoro offered to take some of the loot from Nami and she agreed, splitting the treasure in two. One the way back picking up Maya who was now awake due to the commotion going on, and soon the group was sailing for the next island.

* * *

Phew! Another 6k chapter, man that took longer that I wanted it to. I had originally hope to get it out for Halloween but things happened so sorry about that. Also what did you think of the Lullaby? It's 100% original :D

Anyway I have an idea for a Naruto fic in my head and it's driving me insane. If you guys are interested in seeing how that will turn out just leave a review and I get right on it. Of course this will impact the updates of TRT but that decision is up to you lot cause I'm fine either way. It'll be another 'What if Naruto was banished for not retrieving Sasuke at VOTE.' Yes I know that there are already many out there but this will be my spin of things.

On another note, over 150 Favs and over 200 followers! Gees guys thanks, I'm surprised never thought that my story would do that well so thanks for liking this story.

Anyway see ya!

-Red

 **Translations**

 **Mizu Mizu: Chenrinku - Chain link**

 **Mizu Mizu: Taiho - Cannon**

 **Bara Bara Ho – Split Split Cannon**

 **Bara Bara Senbi – Rice cracker**

 **Bara Bara Festival – Do I need to do this one?**

 **Chi wo hau Bara Bara ho – Ground runner "" Cannon**

 **Oni Giri – Devil Slice**

 **Akurobatikku tokubetsu: Rojin no hono – Acrobatic special: Old man's flame**

 **Akurobatikku tokubetsu: Raijingu hanabi- Rising firwork**


	8. Sniping Black Cats

The Rising Tides

WAH! I'M SORRY! I truly am this chapter has been in production for 4 month but I just kept forgetting to do it and school was a nightmare, so was my life. UGH. Anyway I am telling you guys now. I AM NOT DROPPING THIS STORY! I will always try and update either of my stories. If per chance that a story has not been updated in a year then I am probably dead…Moving on! So I just wanted to apologise for not updating in a while…

Anyway, here is chapter 7 of The Rising Tides.

"Talking"

' _Thoughts'_

*Noises or Actions*

' **Attacks'**

I don't own One Piece

* * *

 _Fire and chaos reigned supreme in the battlefield as shouts, screams and cries echoed in the atmosphere. The Sharp sound of clashing swords and gunfire penetrated the air._

 _A younger Luffy knelt on the ground next to the body of a young girl who appeared the age of 6 or 7. His head shot up quickly and he grabbed the body of the girl and leaped away just in time for a large ball of magma to land where he previously was._

 _Luffy placed the girl on the ground and unsheathed a sword he had tied to his back and pointed in the direction the lava came from. "I WON'T LET YOU HURT HER!" he yelled defiantly to the growing shadow of a man caught in the flames._

 _A dark chuckle rumbled from said shadow, seemingly making it darker. "You are welcome to try boy." A voice rung out as the man stepped out form the fire to reveal…_

…With a sharp intake of breath Luffy shot up in bed. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes and, wiped his forehead of some sweat. His breathing slowed as he began to control it. He looked down and closed his eyes. _'That damn dream again'_ He thought. It had been haunting him for six years ever since he lost his way towards the end of his training trip with Shanks. He is just glad that he was rescued, but it still scarred him to this day. Opening his eyes he looked out the window in his cabin and saw it was still dark but the light on the horizon signified that it was close to dawn.

He sighed and climbed out of bed, wearing a simple red t-shirt and grey shorts. He opened his door and walked into the crisp morning air. He shivered slightly as the cold got to him and bounced on his heels to try and warm his body.

He walked up to the helm and dismissed the clone on the watch. He walked up to the railing and watched the sun begin to rise. Sighing once more he turned away and sat in the lotus position and began to meditate to clear his mind from the dream earlier.

(few hours later)

Makino walked up from the lower levels, leaving Nami to wake up Maya which was unusual as Luffy was normally the one to do so. She wandered up to the helm stretching and spotted the reason Luffy hadn't woken Maya. It appeared that he was still meditating and was completely oblivious to the world around him.

She walked up to him and knelt down. She placed her hand on his shoulder and gently shook him. Luffy slowly opened his eyes when he felt himself being rocked, when his sight was returned to him he saw Makino smiling at him. He stood and stretched, releasing the stiffness in his muscles. "What time is it?" he asked.

"Just after 8" Makino replied.

"Hm. Been meditating for a few hours then." Luffy stated

"How long have you been up?" She questioned surprised

"Since dawn." He said

"Bad dreams again?" She asked

"More like memories but yes…dreams." Luffy said quietly.

Makino let a sad frown cross her face. Luffy had told her what happened to him 6 years ago and she thought the culprits were the good guys but she understood why he was still suffering after all these years. So she stepped forward and embraced him, letting him know that everything was fine now. Luffy, who was a bit startled by the sudden action, stood there for a moment before wrapping his arms around her to returning the gesture of affection.

After a little time they separated both now sporting small smiles. "Thanks." Luffy said, "I needed that."

"No problem." Makino said, smiling warmly.

After talking for a little while longer Luffy went to get dressed and Makino went down a level to prepare breakfast for a while.

When he eventually made it down all the others were already eating the breakfast that Makino had prepared.

As he sat down at the head of the table, Maya immediately jumped up and hugged him. "Good morning nii-chan!" She yelled happily

"Hey there Maya, sorry I didn't get you up this morning to lost track of time while meditating…it happens a lot." Luffy said while stroking the girls head.

"Meditating?" Zoro questioned

"I sometimes do it when certain…memories…pop up. Shanks told me that it should calm my emotions and help the memories drift back into whatever draw I've locked them in." The people around the table looked perplexed at the way he described it but thought nothing of it.

"What were you remembering?" Nami asked innocently

Luffy paused in the middle of serving himself for a moment before continuing. "Nothing you should concern yourself with." He said not even bothering to look up from the meal he was now eating. After a few seconds of silence the small crew let go of the issue and went back to eating the food that Makino had prepared.

(Hours later)

It was now closer to midday and they had finally reached land. They were taking a smaller rowing boat ashore after hiding the ship and leaving a clone or two to guard it. All was quiet before Maya asked. "Where are we going?" she said looking to where Luffy was sitting.

"We are going to Gecko islands where a small village called Syrup is. We are here just to get supplies." Nami answered for Luffy.

"Ok!" She replied, smiling brightly.

A thud and a jolt of the small craft alerted the group that they had finally reached the shore of the island. As they climbed out they took in their surroundings. Before them were the steep sides of some cliffs and a steady slope up the middle of them.

As they walked towards the slope to gain access to the island Zoro suddenly stopped and put his hand on his sword. "We are not alone." He murmured quietly.

"I know." Luffy said quietly still walking. "3 brats and a teen have been watching us ever since we came into view of the shore." He continued a little louder.

A shout came from the cliff to their left. "AH THEY FOUND US." 3 voices yelled and the 3 brats as Luffy mentioned came into view and scurried out of sight moments later. The 1 teenager was standing on the right side of the slope. He was wearing brown overalls with a white sash with a brown satchel. He had black curly hair which he kept under an olive green plaid bandana. He was currently aiming a sling shot at them, already aimed and pulled back.

"I AM THE GREAT CAPTAIN USOPP! MY AMRY OF 1 MILLION MEN PROTECT THIS ISLAND, LEAVE NOW AND YOU SHALL BE SHARED FROM THIS WRATH." Yelled the newly named Usopp. He stood at his full height and tried to look intimidating but with his legs shaking it wasn't getting the required effect.

"Is he serious?" Nami asked, irritation seeping into her tone

"I hope not." Zoro replied lowly.

"And how are we supposed to believe you when my Captain here specifically called out how many of you there were." Makino stated factually, her hands on her hips.

Usopp, if it were possible, seemed to start shaking more but didn't reply.

"Will you put your life on the line?" Luffy asked in a stern voice, his hat overshadowing his eyes.

"Huh?" was the only reply he got from Usopp.

"That weapon in your hand isn't a tool for threats; it's a tool for action. As soon as you fire, it's on." Luffy continued

Zoro who caught on to what he was doing, smirked while flicking open one of his swords and Makino rested a hand on hers.

Usopp however looked constipated by the look on his face. When he finally looked as if he was going to fire, he released the tension on his sling shot and fell to his knees with a defeated sigh. "Alright you win. Do your worst." He said his eyes were tightly shut.

He opened his eyes to the sound of laughing to see the pirates that he was threatening laughing their asses off… well most of them. Zoro was chucking and Maya was looking around confused as to why everyone was laughing. "Oh…oh that was…that was good." Luffy said in between breaths.

"Wh…What?" Usopp said, confused at the turn of events.

"You didn't think we were really going to kill you, did you?" Makino said

Usopp didn't respond, giving the answer the group was looking for and they started laughing again.

"We may be pirates but were just pirates because we don't want to live by the rules." Luffy said after they had calmed the second time.

"So you're not going to kill and pillage the entire village then?" Usopp said, hope rising inside him.

"No, now get down here before I drag you myself." Luffy said with an edge in his voice turning serious once more.

Usopp scared by the sudden change in tone scrambled down the cliff but only succeeded in falling down it and landing on his head. The crew sweat dropped when he got up as if nothing happened and seemingly teleported in front of Luffy.

"So your name is Usopp?" Luffy questioned

"Yep!" Usopp replied cheerfully

"Is your father's name, Yasopp, by any chance?"

Usopp's eyes lit up at the question and he smiled brightly. "Yes!" he said "He is a brave pirate of the seas! I want to be like him!"

"Really? Come let us continue this conversation somewhere else, a restaurant maybe?" Luffy commented nudging on the party.

"Ok, follow me, I know a place." Usopp said as he took the lead.

* * *

Currently they were sitting in the restaurant cleaning up the remnants of their lunch. Luffy sat by the window gazing out of it while Maya sat on his lap, which she insisted upon, still nibbling at the remains of her sandwich. Next to him was Zoro taking swigs from a bottle of sake. Opposite Luffy sat Makino and next to her was Nami. At the end of the table sitting on a chair was Usopp.

"So my Dad is a famous pirate then?" Usopp questioned after finishing his last mouthful.

"Mhm," answered Luffy. "Sails with 'Red Haired' Shanks."

"The yonko?!" Exclaimed Usopp

"The very one." Luffy confirmed.

"Awesome!" he yelled, "I knew he was a brave pirate of the seas"

Luffy chuckled a little. "Indeed." He said before taking a drink from the bottle of sake in front of him.

Usopp, having calmed down a little, looks towards a clock on the wall and his eyes widened in panic when he realized what the time was and he quickly stood up, knocking his chair over in his haste.

"I…uh…gotta go." He said as he ran towards the door and yanked it open. "Talk to you later!" He yelled, disappearing round the door as the door slammed in his wake.

The crew sat there confused at the event for a few moments. "What was that about?" Nami asked

"Not a clue." Was Zoro's reply before the door bust open once more and three kids charged through.

Although Luffy wasn't listening to the commotion going on beside him, he was more focused on the building at the top of the hill where he had sensed Usopp run to. "Who lives up there?" He questioned, interrupting the scene that was playing out, as he nodded in the direction of the building.

Everyone on the table stopped and looked at him. Even Nami who currently held one of the three kids in her grasp and looked as if she was about to pound the hell out of him. "Oh that where the village's ojou-sama lives." Replied the one in Nami's hands.

"Why did Usopp run up there?" He continued, now looking at the three. The one in Nami's 'claws' had a plain black hoodie on, he had purple hair that covered his eyes and a red bandana with a skull and cross bones on. Luffy wondered how he saw through his hair. The one next to him appeared to be the shortest. He wore a yellow t-shirt with a blue vest jacket over top. He wears large square glasses and has brown hair pulled up into a small tuft at the top making him look a little like a onion. The last boy was wearing a light green t-shirt with another skull and cross bones on it, he has dark green hair also ending in a tuft at the end making his hair look like a pepper.

"Ojou-sama is sick, and Usopp lies to her to make her feel better." Replied the Onion

"Why would lying make someone fell better?" Makino asked, confused

"The captain makes up stories to tell her to make her happy. She enjoys them even though we think she knows they are lies." Said the Pepper.

"Hm, interesting…" Luffy said lowly before quickly standing up and placing an arm under Maya to support her, who squeaked cutely at the sudden movement. "Come on then let's go pay them a visit." He stated before stepping round Zoro and heading towards the door.

"What?" The others merely murmured, astounded at the sudden change of personality from Luffy.

"Why?" Nami yelled towards Luffy.

But Luffy didn't hear as he was already out of the door. The others realising he had gone scrambled to leave as well after paying for the meal.

* * *

Back together again they stood in front the large house that Luffy had wanted to come to. The standing just outside of the house beside a large hedge and they could hear voices in the background, obviously coming from over the wall of leaves.

"Shall we invite ourselves in?" Luffy said looking over the top of the hedge with a small grin.

"What do you have in mind?" Makino asked, a little nervous at the grin that was growing larger by the second. Luffy didn't respond and just grabbed the group together and launched them over the wall with a quick **Mizu Mizu: Jettostoimu**. Turns out it wasn't the best idea as they all landed on the opposite side in a heap after Luffy messed up the landing.

"Excuse me are you alright?" Came a soft voice from in front of them. After they had untangled themselves they looked up to see who had asked the question. Whom they saw was a young pale and fragile blood woman who was leaning out of the window looking curiously down at them. Usopp was sitting in the tree looking at them weirdly.

Luffy cleared his throat and took off his hat before initiating an exaggerated bow. "Captain Monkey D Luffy." He said as he stood back up again and placed his hat on his head. "My crew, Maya, Makino, Zoro and Nami." He introduced indicating at the person respectively.

The girl smiled brightly at the introduction. "Ah so you are the pirates that Usopp said came to join you." She said pointing to a now rather nervous looking Usopp now that as the group all started glaring at him.

"Ye…Yes well th…they heard the ..aw…awesome tales of the g..great Captain Usopp and…couldn't help but be a…mazed at his prowess." He stuttered, and couldn't help but shiver as the glares from the group increased…san Maya who was tugging on Luffy coat sleeve with a confused expression.

Luffy redirected his gaze from the shivering Usopp in the tree to Maya after the 2nd tug. "What's up?" He questioned

"What does Pro...Prowess mean?" she asked curiously

"It means skill in a particular area or bravery in battle, but I think he means both in this context." Luffy replied after think for a while.

Maya just nodded at Luffy as he turned his attention back on Usopp, who was by now shivering as if it were -50 out, and tugged on his sleeve again. "What does context mean?" She asked again.

Luffy face palmed for saying complicated words to a 4 year old. "The situation that form the setting for an event, or idea, and in which it can be fully understood." He explained once more

Maya nodded, finally understanding the long words.

"Other than the fact that Usopp here is most likely the worst liar in history, we came to see where he had dashed off to, only to find him talking to the lovely lady of the island." Luffy commented.

She giggled slightly, "Why thank you. My name is Kaya." she said.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OVER HERE?!" a voice quite loudly broke in, as a lanky black haired man wearing glasses and a smart suit walked around the house.

"Well we were having a conversation before you arrived." Makino said sarcastically.

The man shifted ever so slightly at the remark before recomposing himself. "Indeed." He said

"Ah Klahadore this i…." Kaya tried to explain before she was interrupted.

"No need to explain Ojou-sama, I shall deal with them before the hour is out," while looking at a golden pocket watch.

"Well if you don't mind _mister butler."_ Luffy said stressing out the butler part, "But Kaya-Ojou-Sama is holder of this house, we are free to be here until she says otherwise." He finished.

Klahadore ignored Luffy as he turned to Usopp, who by now had stopped shivering, in the tree. "Ah Usopp, I've heard of your ways from the villagers. I expected nothing less from the son of a filthy pirate. What is it they call you? Usopp the liar?" He remarked. Usopp bristled at the comments and leaped from the tree and next to Luffy, glaring heatedly at the butler in front of him. "I do believe it was your worthless father's fault." He continued.

"What was that?!" Usopp yelled, getting angrier by the second.

"Kalhdore, that enough!" Kaya instructed, but he paid no mind and continued.

"I mean all he was a worthless pirate who knocked some whore on the island and left again." He said, an arrogant smirk plastered on his face.

That seemed to be the breaking point for Usopp as he suddenly dashed forward and grabbed his collar and raised his fist to punch him. As he thrust forward his arm suddenly jerked backwards. Turning he saw Luffy holding his arm tightly and giving him a stern eye. He shook he head slightly and Usopp seemed to get the message. Although reluctantly, he let go of the butlers collar and stepped back.

"Hm, going straight to violence, just like your father. Worthless pirate." Klahadore said.

Usopp looked as if he was about to rush forward but was stopped by Kaya's voice. "That's enough, Usopp." She said with tears in her eyes.

"Yes, it'd be best if you leave." Klahadore said sternly looking pointedly at the group.

Usopp prepared an outburst, but he felt Luffy's hand on his shoulder and calmed himself. "Fine, we'll leave." He said stiffly, before turning towards the window where Kaya was. "This is the last time we shall meet. Good-bye Kaya." He said before practically running out of the estate.

"Come-on guys." Luffy said calmly before walking after Usopp. The others followed silently after him."

* * *

After a minute or two the group caught up to Usopp on the road. Luffy walked a little faster and fell into step with Usopp. He laid a hand on his arm. "Are you alright?" He asked quietly.

Usopp's face went through a variety of emption before stopping on a happy one. "Yeah! Why wouldn't I be?"

Luffy raised an eyebrow. "mhm. Anyway, considering your position on the island I was going to offer you a position on my crew, a chance to follow in your father's footsteps." Luffy proposed as they stopped on the side of the road and lent on a fence.

Usopp looked elated for a second before shaking his head. "No, I can't." He said before running off down the road.

Luffy looked confused for a second before turning to the others, "I going after him." He said before walking off.

"What are we going to do?!" Shouted Nami furiously after him.

Luffy shrugged, "I dunno, talk. Your Nakama now." Oblivious to the now glaring Nami and Zoro. Maya seemed to be distracted with a flying butterfly so she didn't notice either but judging by the now shifting Makino she had.

(At the coastline)

Luffy found Usopp sitting under a tree staring out at the sea and over the horizon. Silently he sat down next to him. "Is there a reason you don't want to come? I can see in your eyes that you yearn for the sea."

Usopp took a deep breath before talking, "I do want to come. But I can't, I love this village too much and I can't let Kaya drown in her sadness." He said.

"Didn't you say that was the last time you were going to see her again?" Luffy questioned

"I did…but I'll go back again if that damn butler apologises for what he said." He answered

"Well if you want him to apologise he's down there." Luffy said, nodding his head in the direction of the beach.

When Usopp looked his saw the Klahadore down the cliff with a weird looking man in a blue trench coat, a blue hat and red heart shaped glasses.

They both quieted down and pressed themselves against the grass and leaned forward listening intently.

"Is everything ready Jango?" Asked Klahadore

"Yes Captain Kuro, the crew is ready to strike at first light." Replied the newly named Jango

Luffy's eyes narrowed, _'Kuro, Kuro of a thousand plans? Isn't he ment to be dead?'_ he thought. He looked towards Usopp and saw a confused expression on his face. _'Looks like he's got a similar idea'_

"Jango you are the captain now remember. I am a simple butler called Klahadore to Kaya-Ojou-Sama" The apparent Kuro said

"Bullshit." He heard Usopp mutter making him chuckle slightly.

"Of course, my mistake." Jango said.

"Tell me the plan, to make sure you remember it." Kuro commanded

"Ok, first me and the crew shall attack the village causing damage and then I will proceed to the Kaya's house and hypnotise her to write a will leaving her fortune and house to you." Jango recited

"Very good. Continue" Kuro prompted

"After that I will kill her but will make sure that it looks like an accident." Jango finished

"Good, good. Remember to make her sign the will to Klahadore not Kuro." Kuro instructed

"Don't worry, I will." Jango said.

"Good. Now off with you."

Jango nodded and walked off down the beach while Kuro turned and walked the other way.

Luffy and Usopp shared a look and silently retreat from the edge of the cliff, making sure not to attract the attention of the still walking Kuro.

"Well that was enlightening." Luffy commented

"Luffy this is no time to joke, Klah-Kuro is going to attack the town and kill Kaya. What are we going to do?" Usopp panicked.

"Whoa, Whoa chill. Use your brain," Luffy said to the panicking teenager. Unfortunately it didn't seem to work as the next thing he said was…

"I got to warn the village now!" and proceeded to run off.

Luffy sighed and shook his head. He decided to talk to the others about it and spread his observation haki around and found them in the same place as he left them and set off to join them.

* * *

When he arrived he saw Maya and the 4 boys, whose names he still didn't know, playing, Makino and Nami having a civilised conversation while Zoro napped.

"Hey we got some bad news." Luffy announced nudging Zoro with his foot. As the group turned their attention to him he started to explain. "Klahadore is actually a presumed dead Captain called Kuro of a thousand plans"

"And this is concerning why?" Zoro asked

"Because he and his old crew, the Black Cat pirates are planning to attack the town tomorrow morning." Luffy stated with a serious look on his face, shocking the entire crew into silence.

After most of them had regained their composure Makino said. "What are we going to do?"

"Nothing yet, we'll have to wait for Usopp to come back." Luffy said

"Wasn't he with you though?" Nami inquired

"Yeah but he ran off before I could stop him." Luffy replied shaking his head.

(A few hours later)

The group was alerted to someone coming by the sound of approaching footsteps. When they turned to look who it was they were greeted by the sight of and downtrodden Usopp walking slowly towards them, gripping his arm which had blood dripping down it.

"Usopp you alright?" Zoro asked

"Oh hey guys!" Usopp yelled, faking happiness

"Captain, Captain! Luffy told us about Kuro, we want to help!" The 3 vegetables claimed

Usopp looked at the kids for a few minutes before breaking in laughter. "Ha I got you good. That was all a joke to get back at that damn butler!" He yelled, continuing to laugh. "And the best part is, Luffy agreed to help!"

The faces of the children fell slightly, before they announced their disappointment in him and walked off.

They were silently for a bit before, "I take it the village didn't believe you." Luffy said.

Usopp sighed and shook his head. "No, not a word."

"What's the plan?" Makino asked

Luffy looked at the now darkening sky and turned to Usopp. "Your house near here?" he asked

Usopp nodded. "Follow me." He said and walked off, the others walking behind him.

(Minutes later – Usopp's house)

They sat silently in Usopp's house after Makino and Nami healed the wound on his arm.

"So...the plan." Zoro said

"Yeah…" Usopp said. He face focused in coming up with something.

"Well we're helping you, if that counts." Luffy said

"Why?" Usopp questioned, stunned

"Well for one, you're hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned." Makino noted

"And you so scared you could pass out before they even land." Nami said, smirking while pointing to said teen's legs, which were shaking again.

Usopp smiled gratefully, "Thanks, but that doesn't help us make a plan."

Luffy opened his mouth to speak but he was interrupted by Maya yawning and snuggling into his chest. He smiled softly. "It might be best if we get some sleep, we have to get up early after all." He suggested

The other nodded and made themselves comfortable in assorted positions around the small house. Luffy leant against the wall, cradling Maya against his chest while covering them with his coat.

The group went to sleep, pondering about the next day's events.

(Morning)

Luffy and Nami sat on the Southern side of the island as the sun rose. Both of them peered out towards the ocean in search of an approaching ship. Early this morning, since they didn't know which side they were coming from they decided to slit. Zoro and Usopp went north, and Luffy and Nami went south. Makino settled for staying with Maya to keep her occupied during the fighting. They sat there for around 10 minutes before Luffy shot up and turned north.

"What is it?" Nami asked concerned

"I can sense more presences on the north side approaching. If we run we should get there before they are overwhelmed." Luffy said before blotting in the direction he was facing, and Nami ran after him.

In a few minutes they arrived to see Zoro barely holding off the overwhelming pirates and Usopp atop the cliff.

As the duo ran out of the forest most of the attention turned to them, and some of the enemy crew turned to engage the new arrivals. Luffy and Nami met them half way with Luffy drawing in swords and Nami grabbed her bow staff.

Luffy and Nami quickly chop, slashed and bashed their way through the pirates to Zoro where the 3 of them pushed them back down the hill. "Morning Zoro, how's things?" Luffy greeted

"Just fine now you're here." He replied

"How many are we talking about?" Nami asked

"Around 50!" Usopp told her after walking over

"Well this should be easy then." Luffy commented, yawning

The 4 turned their attention to the pirates down the cliff and saw them surrounding Jango. "What are they doing?" Luffy asked

"He looks like he's hypnotising them." Nami answered, squinting at them. Suddenly they let out a large battle cry and ran back up towards them.

Thinking quickly Luffy thought of a plan. "Zoro with me, we're going to meet them. Usopp back on the cliff, take out any stragglers. Nami stay here, take out any that get past us. They cannot be allowed to get past us!" Luffy commanded then others nodded and got into their positions as Zoro and Luffy ran forward and clashed with the pirates. The battle took around 10 minutes before the pirates finally stopped getting up. The only one not exhausted was Luffy and that's due to the fact that he can fight admirals head on. He had used his water powers to devastating effect taking out large chunks of the pirates at a time and only used his swords when the lucky one got threw. Usopp picked off the ones at the back who chose to wait until the group was tired before attack. They appeared to be the smarter ones but they fell like the rest. Zoro used his swords to slice and dice his combatants has skill superior to theirs. And Nami caved their skull in like they were paper mache to the unlucky souls who got past.

Between them they soundly defeated them and Jango stood at the bottom beside the beached boat shacking. He seemed to mutter to himself before shouting, "Buchi! Sham! Get down here!"

It was a few moments before anything happened but when it did two figures had jumped off the ship. One of them was small and scrawny, and had dress like a cat complete with mittens with added claws, and ears atop his head. This is the one that spoke. "Yes Captain. What is it you need of us?"

"Sham, I need you and Buchi to fight that lot." Jango said, pointing in the direction of Luffy, Nami, Zoro and Usopp.

The two turned to look at them before looking back at Jango, shaking. "B-B-ut th-ey look really s-trong" The other one spoke this time. He was are rather large individual, but rather large as in sideways instead of up.

"I don't care Buchi, get it done." Jango ordered

The duo fearfully turned towards the group and tried to sound intimidating. "Yo-u be-tt-er w-watch out, or I'm gon-na slash you with my claws." Sham shouted bravely but apparently nervous as well judging by the stuttering. Luffy hadn't even noticed that Buchi had gone missing, and apparently neither had the others.

After watching Sham pathetically charge at him he reached to grab his swords hanging on his waist, only to feel air. He sharply looked down at his hip to see his swords missing, but before he could look for them an arm suddenly found itself stuck in his chest. Thankfully there was no blood, only a ripple effect coming from his chest. "Well that wasn't very nice." Luffy said glancing up at Sham who had a shocked look on his face. Looking around he saw Buchi, who also had his swords in his grasp. He turned his attention back to Sham before razing an eyebrow at him. Which for some reason scared the Cat dressed in ways that made him shiver, he…was unfortunately correct in his assumption in being scared as a haki infused knee suddenly found itself violently placed in his genitalia. It's understandable that he immediately passed out. Poor bugger.

Buchi looked scared for a moment before he shook his head and charged, apparently ignoring the demise of his accomplice. Luffy look unconcerned at the approaching fat man, as he looked behind him to see Zoro preparing for an attack. **' Santoryu Oni Giri'** Zoro yelled striking just as Buchi turned when he heard Zoro's voice. Zoro skidded to a stop just beside Luffy, who nodded to him on a job well done.

"Nami go loot the ship. You can have 50% of the stuff there." Luffy ordered as both he and Zoro turned to back to Jango.

"50%!?" Nami protested

Luffy sighed, "Just do it." He said.

Nami looked ready to protest again, but a stern look from Luffy silenced any opposition from her. With a huff, she passed Luffy and Zoro and scaled the ship to look for some loot.

Luffy and Zoro turned back to Jango and saw him sweating intensively and shaking in his boots but Luffy had a feeling it wasn't him. It turned out to be right.

"It is past dawn Jango. Why hasn't the plan began like I had commanded." Said a slick voice.

"C-Captain K-Kuro." Jango stuttered out.

The group to turned to see Kuro standing at the top of the hill with a sneer on his face. He was holding a duffle bag in his hand. "I asked you a question Jango. Why hasn't the plan proceeded like I ordered?" Kuro asked again.

"It's these kids, C-captain. They ke-ep causing t-trouble." Kango answered fearfully when Kuro began glaring at him.

Kuro look at the crew with a keen eye as he saw that they were waking up. "Listen up, you useless shits." He spoke. "You have 5 minutes to kill these children or I will do it myself and you along with them." Kuro said narrowing his eyes at the Black Cat pirates, who were all wide awake now and quite scared. Jango looked grim for a second before gripping a circular blade on a string and hanging it in front of his crew. "When I say One, Two Jango, you will become immensely strong, you will have no fear, you will not feel pain and all your wounds shall heal." Jango said. "One, Two Jango." He finished, while swinging his blade like a pendulum.

The feline pirates all sprung up and turned to the group on the cliff. Luffy could see that all of their injuries had healed and their muscles bulged and they charged in a rage up the slope towards them.

Luffy raised an eyebrow at the approaching pirates and shrugged. "Their funeral," he commented and ran down to meet them. Zoro got the same idea and followed him with Usopp giving them coving fire.

Thanks to the bonuses from Jango the cats were a little harder to deal with but ultimately they were easily dealt with in the allocated time. Fortunately or unfortunately ,depending on whose point of view you're looking at the Black cat pirates all now lay at the bottom of the cliffs, either dead, dying or unconscious. Of course it entirely depends on who attack them.

By now Kuro was furious, which was clearly visible. His eyes had darkened and he was gritting his teeth in anger. "It seems you have chosen death." Kuro gritted out through his teeth as he slipped on his gloves which had large knives on the ends of his fingers making them resemble cat claws.

He looked ready to attack when a large shouted re-sounded around the area they were fighting in.

"KLAHADORE STOP THIS ISNSTANT" A largely feminine voice shouted out. They all turned and saw Kaya standing by the forest edge. She looked paler then when they had last seen her; she was also panting quite heavily and looked as if she was struggling to stand up. They were all quite surprised to see her there.

"Kaya what are you doing here?! It's dangerous!" Usopp shouted from his position.

She ignored him and continued on, "If it is my fortune that you want Klahadore then you can have it. Just leave the village alone." She pleaded

"You don't seem to understand Ojou-sama. " Kuro spoke, "I want a peaceful life that has nothing to do with the sea." He said turning an icy gaze over to her.

Suddenly she pulled a pistol from…somewhere. "Klahadore, stop this!" Kaya yelled shakily aiming the gun at said person.

Kuro eyed the gun and looked at the girl and a dark look appeared in his eye and a small malicious smirk appeared on his face as he recited the 'happy' times he had spent with Kaya. With each one that came up Luffy could see Kaya's resolve crack and falter slightly. Eventually she couldn't hold on anymore and the pistol fell from her grasp and she crashed to her knees as sops wracked her body. Out of the corner of his eye Luffy spotted Zoro gripping his swords tighter than before, and smiled slightly seeing that the man shares his feelings towards the now most hated person in the area.

"KURO!" Usopp yelled, now bringing the areas attention to him as he was holding he sling shot, a lead ball already loaded, pulled back and aimed at Kuro.

"Ah Usopp, I didn't notice you there." Kuro said condescendingly.

This only served to anger Usopp more as he let his ammo fly towards the ex-butler, who snorted slightly before disappearing, thus evading the projectile, and appeared behind a now rather terrified Usopp when the man's bladed fingers found their place on his face.

"You know, I remember how you almost hit me." He whispered into Usopp's ear, but the whole clearing heard anyway. "And I don't like being hit." He finished as he looked ready to skewer the teen through the back. And he would have done if it wasn't for the fact that a boot suddenly found itself planted in his chest launching him away from Usopp and landing him at the edge of the forest, Luffy now standing in his place and his foot found its place back on the ground. The eyes on him now wide open in awe at the speed he displayed.

As Luffy began walking forward to finish off Kuro, they were surprised when 3 kids broke out of the forest and began a beat on the butler with miscellaneous weapons.

After a small round of beatings and insults the trio stopped and ran up to Usopp and smiled brightly. "Mission accomplished Captain." They said together, saluting to the shocked face of Usopp, which was replicated by the rest of the people in the area.

He shook himself out of the shock and focused on the kids in front of him. "What are you guys doing here?" He said horrified

"B-But Cap-" One of the three, began.

"No! You can't be here, it's dangerous!" Usopp interrupted furiously. The kids froze at his tone. He noticed Kuro standing back up to the side. "Look, here's what I want you to do. I want you to take Kaya and run into the forest ok. Get her away from here and protect her." Usopp instructed.

The three looked shocked for a moment before nodding and taking Kaya's hand and running away towards the forest.

"Jango, go after the girl. Don't come back until you have completed your task." Kuro commanded. Said man nodded and ran after them.

"Zoro, Usopp after him. I will finish things up here." Luffy instructed as the other two nodded and followed.

Kuro went to follow after them, evident of him starting to run towards the forest. But he stopped abruptly when he came face to point with one of Luffy's swords.

Luffy tutted, "Your fight is with me Kuro." He said.

Kuro raised an eyebrow. "Why are you helping Usopp?" He questioned

Luffy just shrugged. "He interests me." He said

Kuro disappeared and reappeared behind Luffy poised to strike, "Is that so?" he said before swinging he hand down towards Luffy's unprotected back he was however unprepared for the hand to catch his wrist. He blinked and Luffy was now facing him holding onto his arm with an iron grip.

"Your quite fast Kuro, however." He said before disappearing. Out of nowhere and fist impacted the side of Kuro's face launching him into the cliff side. "You're not fast enough." He finished grinning.

Kuro looked shocked for a moment before narrowing his eyes. He snorted and turned to look at his crew. "I'll deal with you later, first I have to take care of some trash." Kuro muttered, though everyone still heard him. He started swaying on the spot and slowly stated to walk forward. **Kuki Ashi** he shouted and disappeared from sight.

Luffy wondering what he was doing because he felt Kuro's signature moving around the clearing at speeds even he would have trouble getting to. He didn't have to wait long for his answer as one of the Black cat members' chest suddenly erupted in blood due to the fact that there were now 4 deep slashes there. Almost immediately another collapsed in the same manner, followed by another, and another.

His eyes narrowed sharply at the sight of Kuro massacring his crew without remorse and he gripped his hands in anger.

His eyes widened slightly as he felt Kuro heading straight for him. Acting quickly he threw out a hand and put up a wall of water.

He had to admit, it was quite comical watching Kuro smash into the wall at rather high speeds and sliding down it.

After dissolving the wall Luffy walked forward and poked Kuro with his foot a few times. "Oi you dead?" he asked

His answer however was in the form of 5 claws heading straight to his face. Luffy only mildly surprised lent back slightly making Kuro overextend putting him off balance. Grapping his wrist Luffy guided Kuro onto his knee which made him hunch over in pain. Turning quickly he round house kicked him in the side of the head dazing him and launching him into the cliff side embedding him in.

The black cats at the bottom of the cliff watched in shock as their former captain was effortlessly defeated in a matter of seconds.

Kuro shook his head as he tried to clear the dizziness. When his vision cleared he tried to leave his imprint on the cliff side but saw Luffy rushing at him with a sword drawn. His eyes widened as he saw his death closing in.

Just as the blade was about to pierce his chest a loud cry was heard. "STOP!" cried a rather feminine. Luffy did so, with the tip of his blade just scratching Kuro's chest. A small trickle of blood could be found falling from the point.

A bead of sweat fell from Kuro's head. His hands shook at his brief encounter with what should have been his death.

Luffy didn't move and inch, he saw Kaya standing at the top of the cliff looking down at them. "And pray tell why shouldn't I kill him?" He asked

"Just because he is a bad man doesn't mean you have to kill him." Kaya said staring defiantly into Luffy's eyes.

Luffy waited a few moments before sighing. Stepping back he sheathed his sword. "Very well Kaya." He said. **'Busoshoku'** he muttered, his fist turning black as he did so, and slammed it into Kuro's stomach making spit blood and fall unconscious.

He looked at the unconscious pirate at his feet for a moment and grabbed a leg and swung him towards the now standing pirates at the bottom. "Leave with this filth of a Captain and never return." He said rather darkly directing some of his **Haoshoku** haki towards them to make sure that they complied. And they did, quickly grabbing their unconscious and badly injured Captain and companions they ran to the ship and sailed off.

Luffy stood watching until they were nothing but a spec in the distance. Turning he saw the rest of the crew standing waiting. "Everyone ok?" He asked.

They nodded the affirmative. "Yeah, a little sore and tired but otherwise ok." Zoro answered for seemingly everybody as they seemed to agree with him.

"Alright then, it's almost noon. Let's go back and get Maya and Makino then have some lunch. After that's done with we can finally do what we originally came here for." Luffy said, chuckling at the end walking off with the others following him.

* * *

The group could now be found in the restaurant in the morning for some breakfast. Luffy, Nami and Zoro chatted about their next move as they finished of their food.

"There are a lot of islands available to explore we just have to chose which ones to go to." Nami explained

"So do we do that or focus on priorities, like filling out crew positions." Zoro said rather nonchalant.

"Well the crew will be covered when we get to Loguetown but we do need things like a doctor and a dedicated cook. I doubt Makino will be able to keep up with the entirety of our crew when it's complete." Luffy said

"So what do we do then?" Nami asked.

Luffy was silent for a moment. "Let's leave first and get out on the open sea. We'll decide where to go then." He eventually decided

"Ok then." Zoro said

Just as they were about to stand up the door to the restaurant opened and Kaya strolled in. "Hey Kaya what's up?" Nami asked

Kaya smiled at them. "As thanks for helping my village I have a surprise for you." She said still smiling.

Luffy looked at Zoro for his opinion who just shrugged. "Alright we've got a little time, lead the way." He said.

Kaya somehow smiled brighter and lead them to the cliffs where the battle occurred, but what surprised them was the caravel sitting at the bottom of it in the water with Merry standing beside it. "You're giving us a ship?" Luffy asked surprised

Kaya nodded. "mhm. It's Merry's, he said he doesn't use it so we wanted to give it to you to use." She explained.

Merry smiled next to her. "Her name is the 'Going Merry' and I designed her when I was a child and made her before I became Kaya's butler." He explained

"We already have a ship though." Makino pointed out.

"Really?" Kaya asked

"Yeah, but we can still take this, we need a smaller ship to go into port and stuff, we can't exactly turn up in ours, we'd scare the people half to death." Luffy suggested.

"That's not a bad idea. But how do we sail it, we are merely 4 people, not including Maya." Nami said

"We could always tie it to the back of ours. It should be strong enough to pull the Merry along." Zoro commented.

"That's an idea…" Luffy said nodding.

Kaya was about to speak again but was interrupted by a loud shout coming from the top of the cliffs. "SOMEBODY HELP ME!" The voice yelled. They all look towards it to see a green ball rolling down the hill towards them.

"Is that Usopp?" Makino asked

Luffy sighed. "Zoro help me." He said walking towards the oncoming ball, Zoro stepping in line with his Captain.

As one they lifted a leg stopping the ball before it hit them, which was indeed Usopp. The only issue being that their feet were now planted in his face. "Thanks guys." Came his muffled gratitude.

Taking their feet off his face Luffy and Zoro stepped back. They realized that the green ball was a rather large and filled to the brim rucksack. "Going somewhere?" Luffy asked amusedly.

"Yep, I've decided to leave on my own journey and become a brave pirate of the sea's like my father before me!" Usopp yelled confidently.

"Really? So you're not coming with us then?" Luffy asked again.

"What?" Usopp said confused

"Come on idiot you're practically part of the crew already." Nami yelled from the ship, getting on during the commotion to check it out.

Usopp looked startled for a while before blinking and suddenly leaping up in happiness. "I get to be Captain!" He yelled

"NO YOU'RE NOT!" Luffy instantly yelled back at him. Kaya laughed in the background at the antic of the crew.

* * *

AND FINSIH!

Damn that took WAY longer than it should have. Again I am sorry about that, but nothing I can do about it anymore. But bloody hell. 8,000 words? New record!

So I'll try and update this again soon but WAMGW comes next so I'll see you there if you read that!

Cya!

-Red

 **Translations**

 **Mizu Mizu: Jettostoimu – Water Water Jet stream**

 **Santoryo: Oni Giri – 3 Sword Style: Demon slash**

 **Nuki Ahsi – Stealth Foot**

 **Busoshoku – Armament**

 **Haoshoku – Conquerors**


	9. Floating restaurants and Hungry Pirates

The Rising Tides

Ok, I said I'm not giving up on this story and I mean it! I honestly don't know what happened, I wanted to write but I just couldn't do it…but hey ho it's here…so yeah!

This is the newest chapter of The Rising Tides! Enjoy!

"Talking"

' _Thoughts'_

*Noises or Actions*

' **Attacks'**

I don't own One Piece

* * *

*BOOM*

Luffy shot awake in the morning sunlight to the sound of cannon fire. Listening intently he heard no other sounds apart from the creaking of the ship and the waves lapping against it. Confused slightly he got out of bed and moved towards the doors of his cabin when another shot rang out. Speeding up his pace, he grabbed **Choseki Ikari** on his way out and threw open the doors.

Looking around for any sort of danger he saw Usopp at one of the cannons seemingly fiddling with it, while Zoro watched on from his position slouched against the mast.

"What's with the cannon fire?" He asked looking at Zoro, seeing as Usopp was preoccupied.

"He's testing the cannon's accuracy by firing at that sea stack over there." Zoro answered while pointing over to said sea stack. Luffy looked over and sure enough there was one sticking out of the water.

"How is it?" He questioned

"Not good apparently."

Luffy shrugged, "I'm not much of a marksmen but I thought it was alright." He said

"According to his mumblings not as good as he hoped but he's fixing it." Zoro continued.

Luffy shrugged again, seemingly uncaring, "Oh well, it's nearly breakfast. The others up yet?"

"They were getting up as I left so I hazard a guess and say breakfast is almost ready." Zoro answered.

As he said that, a cry from below interrupted the three, "BREAKFAST!"

"Good guess." Luffy mumbled as he went to change into appropriate wear.

* * *

Breakfast had been uneventful, just the usual quiet breakfast…now…not so much.

Luffy was currently standing across from a leaping man swinging his sword around as if it was going out of style and a sickly looking man lying on the deck groaning. These two were apparently Zoro's friends, Johnny and Yosaku…Hm…small world. Nami and Makino sat around Yosaku trying to figure out his current illness. He had tasked Usopp and Maya with painting a jolly roger seeing as they currently didn't have one, an oversight on his part, but hey keeps them from getting tied up in this mess. Zoro was…sleeping…again, seemingly not caring that one of his friends could be dying and the other was most likely hell bent on killing the entire crew. Ha like that's happening…

"It's scurvy." Nami stated, sitting up.

"Hm?" Luffy questioned

"Scurvy caused by a lack of vitamins, he HAS been eating fruit right?" Makino asked Johnny, who by now had stopped swinging his sword around like a pillock.

"Eh?" Was his smart response.

"That's a clear no…" Nami muttered. "Luffy could you get some fruit from the storage?" She asked.

Luffy shrugged and turned to do what was asked, despite being the captain. Strolling down the stairs to the second level, he saw Usopp and Maya bent over a table with a blank flag on it, muttering to themselves about various colours and designs he mused.

He later returned to the top deck with a small crate of oranges and placed it down next to the downed body of Yosaku. Then the three proceed to squeeze the fruit juice into Yosaku's mouth.

A few minutes later a rejuvenated Yosaku was jumping around the deck claiming he never felt so alive with Johnny. Only moments later he crashed and burned, metaphorically of course…though he did crash.

Nami face palmed. "Of course he wouldn't recover from scurvy that quickly you dolts!" she yelled massaging her temples.

Luffy just sighed and closed his eyes, hoping the yelling coming from Johnny would eventually stop as he cried about Yosaku dying again. He opened his eyes again and turned them down to see Maya standing before him with the black flag folded up.

"You're finished?" he asked smiling, as he crouched down to her level.

Maya nodded enthusiastically, and opened the flag held in her hands. It was a unique design, with the skull and crossbones being blue instead of white, white wave like lines behind it and a lopsided straw hat on the skull itself. All in all he was quite impressed with what the two had come up with.

"Wow!" He said ginning slightly. "Well done, you two have out done yourselves." He ruffled her hair making her pout at having it messed up. "Alright go get Usopp and hang this at the top of the mast, then see if you can paint this on the sails, hm?" Maya nodded enthusiastically again and ran off to find the sharpshooter.

Luffy sighed tiredly and looked at the much calmer Johnny, and the now awake Zoro conversing. He raised an eyebrow at the now apparently friendly duo, he would have figured earlier that Zoro didn't care about them, but…meh. He shrugged and walked up to the still downed Yosaku and picked him up, and carried him to the infirmary.

* * *

"So what are you doing at the moment?" Johnny asked the crew as they sat around a table in the mess.

"Nothing in particular just sailing around picking up crew as we go." Luffy answered, sipping a bottle of sake.

"Any specific jobs you need?"

"Well, we need a Carpenter, doctor, and cook that is able to fight, an archaeologist, and a permanent navigator," He said giving Nami a hard stare at that last one, who shifted uncomfortably, "and a musician." He finished

"Why a musician?" Nami asked indigently

"What kind of pirate ship doesn't have a musician?!" Luffy almost yelled at her.

"A SANE ONE!" She actually yelled back

"When are pirates sane?!" He questioned, getting rather irritated now

Nami opened her mouth to rebut the question ultimately decided he was most likely right and closed it, pouting at losing their small argument. Luffy nodded and grinned in victory.

"Well I'm not sure about most of the others, but near here there is a float restaurant called Baratie which is home to the fighting cooks. I'm sure you could ask someone there." Johnny offered

"Do you know where it is?" Luffy asked leaning forward slightly.

"Roughly, I'll show you." He said standing up.

Luffy nodded to Nami, who huffed and got up as well, and led Johnny into the navigation room.

* * *

A few hours later upon the horizon a building could be seen, using his telescope Luffy confirmed it was the Baratie. Currently they were in the process of transferring over to the 'Going Merry' to dock easier at the floating restaurant.

A few minutes later, after Luffy left a few clones to guard the 'Ocean's Freedom', they were headed to the apparent 5 star site.

It was half an hour before they finally docked at the establishment and by that point they were ready for lunch as it was already around noon. Along the way had been mostly uneventful exept for the arrival of a small marine ship. But thankfully since they hadn't painted their jolly roger on the merry yet they weren't disturbed.

Entering the restaurant was already fairly packed with few tables available for them. Seeing as there were no tables big enough for all of them at the same time they put together a few tables to create a bigger one. As they sat down they were approached by a blonde haired man with rather scruffy hair which covered one of his eyes, curly brows which looked rather funny in Luffy's opinion, he had a notepad and pen in his hand and a rather expensive looking suit with an apron on the front.

"Hello my name is Sanji, and I shall be your waiter for today." He told them in a rather monotone voice. He looked round the table at its occupants he barely glanced at the men though when he got round to the women hearts immediately appeared in his eyes and he moved so fast to appear in front of them people might have thought that he teleported.

Getting on one knee he grabbed the nearest hand belonging to one of the women, who happened to be Nami, and held it close to his face. "What would a beautiful flower like you want to eat?" He asked.

Nami while had an irritated look on her face couldn't help but blush at the affection the waiter gave her.

This was fairly the same routine for Makino and Maya, though hers was down played a bit. When he eventually reached the men it took the same about of time to go though them as it did the girls because of how long it took. All in all it took almost half an hour before Sanji went away with their orders saying it would take another half hour before their food would arrive. He returned moments later with drinks and went away again.

* * *

Lunch/Dinner came and passed without much trouble except a small disturbance at a different table, he heard something about a fly in a soup, but ignored it in favour of eating the delicious steak and chips. Currently the crew was sitting round the table making small talk when the restaurants attentions, including theirs, was turned to the door of the restaurant slamming open to present a rather nervous looking Marine.

"Lieutenant!" He cried looking franticly round the restaurant.

"What is it?" Said man asked from his position opposite a blond woman in a red dress and lipstick. The marine was of a normal stature, combed pink hair and a dark completion. A scar ran across his cheek.

"Lieutenant Fullbody Sir, the prisoner Sir!" He yelled at his superior

The now named Fullbody raised a pink eyebrow in question. "What about him?" He pressed

"Well sir he's esca-" *BANG* The marine's sentence was cut short and a gun's shot rang out. The marine was still for a bit before he fell forward as a patch of red slowly spread across the front of his chest.

Luffy glanced over to where Maya was sitting next to Makino and was relieved to see that she was buried into Makino's chest so she wouldn't have to see the now dead marine. Luffy caught Makino's attention and nodded his head in the direction of the back door behind him and she caught the message. Picking up Maya gently she whispered soothing words as she walked to the door do and left, making sure Maya couldn't see the Marine. Although she was present at the Buster Call Luffy would prefer she didn't have any more nightmares again.

When Luffy looked back at the commotion he noticed the former prisoner was now sitting at a table being attended by the another waiter, who he assumed was a cook as well, who was rather bulky compared to Sanji. "Have you got money to pay for your food scum?" The man asked rather blankly, with a rather obvious fake smile on his face.

The pirate look thin, which might be due to a lack of food, had short scruffy black hair, a slight moustache, he wore and open jacket with green shirt underneath and grey trousers. He wore a stripped headband around his head.

"Do you take led?" The pirate asked, pointing his gun at the man. The same one he presumed he used to kill the marine.

The cook's face immediately fell and his tone sank. "No money eh?" He said. Quicker than the pirate could react his body was already through the table and the chair was smashed. "This restaurant servers paying customers only!" He grabbed the pirate by the hem of his trousers and his collar and hauled him up, the pirate still dazed barley registered it. Turning on the spot, and in an impressive show of strength chucked the man out of the back door.

Wiping his hand of imaginary dust he bowed to the crowd who clapped and cheered at him. Out of the corner of his eye, Luffy spotted that Sanji had a scowl on his face as he watched and another chef that had appeared during the commotion had a frown of his face. This chef was large around the stomach, has a rather long moustache and a peg leg. His chef's hat was large as well.

Soon everything settled down again and the chefs disappeared back into the kitchen to continue work for the day. The restaurant soon became packed with conversations as the customers gradually forgot the past 5 minutes.

The noise on his own table picked up with the rest of the crowd as Luffy stayed silent. Moments later Sanji returned from the kitchen holding a glass of water and a large bowl of rice and soon went through the door the pirate was chucked through. Luffy wondering what he was doing stood and went to follow. He got a few questioning glances from his crew but he paid them no heed and walked out of the door everyone seemed to be going at the moment.

* * *

Makino was standing outside with Maya as she sat on the railing playing with her as they waited for the go ahead from Luffy to come back inside.

As they played they were disturbed by a man being chucked through the door that they came through. Upon further inspection Makino noticed that it was the pirate that shot the Marine and stood in front of Maya protectively while putting her hand on her pistol tucked into her waist band. When the pirate didn't get up she walked up to him cautiously. When pocking the man with her foot yielded only a pain filled groan Makino relaxed slightly though she kept a hand on her firearm.

She turned her attention to the door again when a man with blond hair walked through with food and water in his hands. He raised an eyebrow in question at her being outside though when he saw Maya sitting on the railing still, looking at the scene in confusion he seemingly understood and kept silent. The man turned his attention to the pirate still groaning on the ground and bent down and placed the food and drink down and sat the man up, leaning him against the railing.

He grabbed the food and drink and placed it in front of the man who seemed to focus more as the food came into view. Taking a spoon out of his suit pocket he stuck it in the rice and slide the bowl forward. "Eat." He said in a stern voice.

The man raised his head slightly and looked at Sanji with a questioning look. "I thought you only fed paying customers." He said simply.

"No, that's just them, I feed anyone who's hungry. Especially at sea." He told the man. He indicated to the food once again. "Now eat."

The man didn't have to ask twice and attacked the food in a ravenous frenzy. He took large mouthfuls of the rice and large gulps of water until both were empty. He sat back and sighed in delight. "That was the most wonderful food I have ever tasted!" He shouted as tears of joy splashed down his face.

Suddenly a voice spoke up from behind them. "I like you." It stated simply. All turned to see the speaker of said voice and saw a boy sitting on the railing above them wearing a straw hat and a captain's coat.

"Luffy!" Makino said smiling with Maya, who was happy to see her brother in all but blood.

"Hey, you can go back in now." He told her turning to look at them. Makino nodded and picked up Maya again and went to move back inside, but not before Maya gave Luffy a quick hug who returned it with a smile.

"I remember you form inside." Sanji said. "What do you want?" He asked

"I assume you can fight?" He said more than asked

"What's your point?" Sanji insisted while lighting a cigarette.

"I want you on my crew." Luffy offered.

"Are you a pirate?" Sanji asked. "Meh, either way I can't. I got something to work off." He continued without waiting for Luffy to answer.

Luffy made a grunting noise in acknowledgement before suddenly appearing beside Sanji startling him slightly. "What have you got to work off?" He questioned

"That's none of your business." Sanji immediately defended.

Luffy raised an eyebrow slightly but made no further comments. Eventually he shrugged, "Well, if you change your mind I'll be around for a few days so just come find me. My ship is the one with the goat head on the bow." He said and turned to walk back inside.

"You never answered if you were a pirate or not." The pirate pointed out.

"Does it matter?" Luffy countered.

"Depends on what your choice for being one is." Sanji joined in.

Luffy was silent for a tick before answering. "I want to become King of the pirates and find one piece." He firmly stated.

Both the pirate and Sanji's jaws dropped at the blatant declaration. "A-are you serious?!" The pirate eventually got out.

"Yeah, straight through the Grand Line to find it!" Luffy spoke with conviction.

"What! You can't go through there it's called the 'Pirates Graveyard' for a reason!" The pirate yelled with fear evident in his eyes.

Luffy chuckled slightly, "And?" He asked nonchalantly.

The man's eyes grew wide and the care free tone. "B-but it's a nightmare there, my Captain's fleet of 50 ships was destroyed by one man before we even got in there!" He tried to convince Luffy.

Luffy gave him a questioning look. "What's your name?" he asked

"Gin, commander of the Krieg Pirates." He replied with pride clear in his voice.

"Well Gin, you Captain is an idiot if he didn't even get to the Grandline." Luffy mocked

"It's not his fault! We didn't have any information on the Grandline what so ever!" Gin defended angrily.

"Then everyone in your armada is an idiot." Luffy bluntly said. "Attempting to go to the Grandline without any information, the people these days…" Luffy muttered sadly, while shaking his head.

Before Gin could retort again another voice spoke up above them again. "So this is where you've been." It said.

All eyes turned up to see the large moustache chef standing looking down at them. "What do you want shitty geezer?" Sanji asked rudely turning his attention from the perplexing argument in front of him to the chef.

"Just telling you to finish and get back to work brat." He said before turning and walking back inside.

Sanji merely let out a breath of smoke before turning and putting it out on the railing of the deck. He turned to Gin and said, "You can take one of the ship's there." He indicated to the small dock in front of him before turning and walking off.

"Thank you Sanji, you saved my life!" Gin thanked, as he also turned and got into a raft and pushed off.

Luffy smiled slightly and also left. _'I chose a good chef for my crew…'_ he thought.

* * *

Luffy stretched as he walked out of men's quarters, as they were still on the merry, and noted the very foggy surroundings but shrugged as it was common while at sea. Walking down the stairs to the main deck, Luffy spotted Nami leaning against the railing and looking at a sheet of paper in her hands with a frown on her face.

Looking at her closely Luffy could see part of a blue tattoo pocking out from underneath her shirt sleeve and narrowed his eyes slightly. Deciding to investigate more he slowly crept up behind her and looked over her shoulder at the apparent picture she was holding.

Said picture was actually a wanted poster. The photo it provided was that of a fishman with a serrated nose and a cruel grin upon his mug. The name provide for the fishman was **'ARLONG'** and was worth '20,000,000 beli' the largest bounty in the East Blue.

Luffy was confused as to why she was looking so intently at the picture in her hands but decided to ignore it for now and slowly slinked away without her ever noticing she was there. He mentally made a note to teach everyone observation haki because that was way too easy.

* * *

Everyone was sitting at 'their' table after finishing breakfast. They sat sipping their own drinks when Zoro spoke, "Hey Luffy?" he asked

"Hm?" Luffy answered placing his glass of whiskey down on the table.

"How long are we going to stay here?" He questioned as everybody else was wondering the same thing.

Luffy was silent as he thought on the question for a little while, "A few more days, it's not like we're needed somewhere urgent." He finally said. No one noticed Nami twitch slightly and leave through the back door.

Zoro shrugged, "Well, you're the Captain." He relented.

Luffy smirked slightly and went to pick up his half-finished whiskey, but froze just before he grabbed it. Narrowing his eyes marginally he focused on his haki and his eyes trailed to the door where he felt multiple small presences approaching the floating restaurant. The others noticed he stopped and turned to him confused as to how he was acting.

"Luffy what's wrong?" Makino asked concerned as to why he seemingly just blanked out.

Makino's question snapped Luffy out of his funk so he grabbed his glass, and sat back in his seat. "Be on your guard, we've got company." He said simply, still looking at the door. Everyone at the table tensed as he said this and reached for their weapons. Looking round the table he noticed one person missing, "Where's Nami?" he asked curious.

It was only once they started looking round the table that they realized that she wasn't among them. "Maybe she went to stay at the ship?" Yosaku suggested

Before the others could agree though, a large crash was heard from the front of the restaurant as two figures made themselves known to the customers inside. One from what he could see was Gin, and the other, who was leaning heavily against Gin, was quite large, more so than his companion and look barley alive. He looked vaguely familiar with his golden armour, but Luffy just couldn't put a finger on it.

Gin gently lowered the man to the ground, who almost collapsed as soon as his support shifted him. The place was silent as they gazed at the intruders with curiosity, wondering who they were.

"Food…" The man said weakly. "Please, food. I've got money, I will pay for any food you've got, scrapes even, I just want food." He continued to beg.

"Don't give him anything! That's Don Krieg!" The large cook shouted, who he learned was named Patty. At hearing his name, Luffy's eyes widened when he suddenly recognised the man begging on his knees. The customers around however screamed as they scrambled to get away from the notorious pirate. Luffy glanced to Makino's chair and noticed that she was already gone with Maya. She knew as well, this could get messy pretty quickly…

As the cooks, continuously denied giving food the pirate admiral in front of them, Luffy felt a larger presence pocking at the edge of his haki range, but as it slowly came into 'view' he immediately recognised who it was, and it was enough to make a smile appearing on his face. _'So you've come to finish off your prey eh?'_

"EVERYONE WHO VALUES THEIR PITAFULL LIVES, GIVE ME ALL YOUR VALUABLES AND LEAVE THIS SHIP IMMEDIATELY!" Krieg boomed, looking like he'd never been looking at death itself moments ago.

Those few customers that remained immediately ran like bats outer hell to escape the man, though the cooks stood their ground and looked as if preparing to fight.

"I want food enough for 100 men, to feed my starving crew and maybe I'll let you live!" Krieg demanded, arrogance lacing his voice.

The cooks renewed their denials in full force, but stopped god-smacked as Zeff, stepped up out of nowhere and plated a large bag, no doubt full of food, in front of the golden armoured man, earning a raised eye brow from Luffy.

"Chef Zeff! What are you doing?! He'll attack the ship the ship now!" One of the cooks cried out, looking rather horrified.

At Zeff's name Krieg's eyes widened. "You're Zeff?! 'Red Leg' Zeff, a pirate famous for the fact that his leg were always covered in his enemies blood, kicks that could break bedrock and could leave footsteps in steel!" Krieg's eyes travelled down to his legs, or more importantly, his wooden one. "Guess that doesn't really matter now does it? Just a defenceless old man who cooks." He mocked

That comment seemed to irk Luffy as he tightened his grip on his dual swords. Zeff gave off the impression he could still kick your ass across East Blue and back even with a peg leg. Old or not, he was not someone to mess with.

"What do you want brat?" Zeff questioned fearlessly, flexing his hands slightly.

"You have a guidebook for the Grandline correct?" Krieg asked, he received a nod, "I want it."

"No" Zeff bluntly replied

"With your book, I'd have the information I sorley lack before, the next time I will conquer the Grandline and become the King of the Pirates!" He yelled almost religiously.

They were interrupted by laughter coming from a table in the corner, and all eyes turned to the culprit, a teenager wearing a blood red Captain's coat and a straw hat firmly upon his head.

"What's so funny kid?" Krieg sneered.

Luffy calmed himself and wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. "Just the fact you think you're going to be the Pirate King" He replied calmly.

"Oh, why's that?" Krieg continued

"Cause I'm going to be it!" Luffy grinned

Krieg growled, "This isn't a game kid!" He threatened, or tired to…

"Who said it was?" Luffy spoke, serious suddenly and putting a hand on his swords.

The man in question gritted his teeth before he grabbed the bag in front of him, turned and exited the doors behind him.

"Sanji, I'm so sorry!" Gin apologised "I didn't mean for this to happen!"

Said man pushed his way to the front of the crowed and faced the man. "It's alright Gin, I know."

Gin looked ready to argue but the sudden sound of wood snapping, water splashing and men's cries stopped the rebuff that was bound to happen. Gin's eyes widened to comical levels as he sank to his knees. "He followed us…that monster followed us…" He cried in near hysteria

"Who followed you?!" Sanji questioned, concern filled his eyes.

Once again their attention was dragged again to the corner where a chuckling sounded. "He came to finish his prey." Luffy said.

Zoro looked to his captain in confusion. "Who Luffy?" he asked

"Dracule 'Hawk Eyes' Mihawk. The world's greatest swordsman." He informed with a small grin on his face, and excitement in his eyes.

Zoro after registering the man's title, also grinned and gripped his swords tightly.

* * *

Everyone had rushed outside to see the commotion, only to be greeted to a sight of, an massive man-o-war ship in half and its crew scattered around on it, and in the water.

The man responsible for such destruction slowly floated towards them on a coffin shaped ship dotted with candles giving it a chilling atmosphere. The man sat in the middle of the boat, with one leg folded over the other, and his hands interlocked on top. A large hat with a great feathery plume covered his face and a burgundy cloak around his body. A large decorated handle towered above his head.

As he neared the wreckage he looked up showing cold, yellow eyes that could strike few into anyone who looked at them.

"He followed us here?!"

"Has he come to finished us off?" Where the most common comments that followed him from the Krieg crew as they stared fearfully at the man.

"That man destroyed an armada all on his own?!" A cook spoke up. "I don't see any special weapon on him." He muttered

"The sword on his back is his weapon." Zoro answered

"BASTARD! Why did you follow us?!" A brave, but foolish pirate shouted at Mihawk.

"Oi! Hawky-chan, the Grandline so boring for you, you had to follow some cannon fodder all the way across East Blue?" Luffy asked from his upon the railing. His head planted on his hand s he lent on it, not caring a warlord was literally right in front of him. The others, however looked at him as if he was insane. I mean, he just called the greatest swordsman in the world 'Hawky-chan'.

Said man's eyes swept across the crowd before meeting Luffy's. Blinking in probable surprise, he answered, "Oh you're here Luffy?" He asked before sighing, "If you must know, I'm just killing time. And yes. It is that boring there."

Luffy chuckled, "I'll be sure to shake it up a bit when I go then huh. Don't want you dying of boredom out there do we."

"Don't ignore me!" The previous pirate yelled, ticked off and the swordsman uncaring attitude. "EAT THIS!" He shouted before aiming both guns at Mihawk and firing. The man however simply grabbed his sword and redirected the bullets in the sea before replacing the sword at his back. All within a second. "Whaa…I missed?" He wondered

Mihawk sighed again. "Seeing as you're here Luffy how about a duel? It's certainly been awhile since we last did." He offered shocking those around them.

Luffy's grin said it all.

* * *

WELP that's a wrap. Sorry again for taking so long, it would have been earlier but as I said, I just couldn't bring myself to write.

Also, I know I'm evil making you wait like that!

Anyway see you when I see you, PEACE!

-Red


	10. Preying Hawks and chasing Cats

The Rising Tides

Hello one and all…or just anyone who bothers to read this part of the chapter. Anyway, here is the conclusion of the Baratie arc, and the start of the duel between Mihawk and Luffy.

 **Moving on, I was wondering how you would want to do battles in regards to the other members of the crew. Would you like me to write about the battles, or just focus on Luffy and do an overview about the fights that occurred? It's up to you guys.**

Ok, so here is the 9th chapter of The Rising Tides.

(Line Break)

Everyone looked on in shock as an apparent nobody was currently standing opposite, and staring down, the strongest swordsman in the world.

As their audience recovered from their shock, Luffy had moved from the Baratie to the floating wreckage of Kreig's ship. "Rules of the duel?" He asked after a period of silence, it also served to finally knock the rest of the observers back to reality.

Mihawk hummed in thought before answering, "None of your devil fruit powers and I shall use none of my sword techniques either. I wish to see how far you have come in pure swordsmanship." He answered in monotone, while reaching from the long blade across his back.

Before Luffy could answer a loud obnoxious voice spoke up from the background, "Oi, Oi Mihawk! Did you just forget about me? The Strongest pirate in East Blue!" Someone boasted

"Oh you're still alive? It seems though I have found a better opponent than you Kreig." Mihawk replied nonchalantly.

There seemed to be a pause as the now re-revealed Kreig processed this information before bursting into laughter as well as his crew, "This brat?!" He yelled more than asked, "He looks like he couldn't cut a tree with those swords even if he was standing with his nose against it!" He continued his laughter.

Mihawk raised an eyebrow towards Luffy, as many others gazed at him wondering what he was going to do in retaliation. Said man just sighed and shrugged before turning and looking at Kreig, who wore, in Luffy's own opinion, disgusting golden armour. He sighed again a merely raised a hand towards the man, palm forwards.

Nothing happened for a few moments, making many wonder if what he was attempting to accomplish failed. Kreig looked as if he was about to start laughing again, that however was before a rather large spear of water pierced through his armour, and coincidently his chest, evident of the water now taking a rather purple colour. Kreig looked down to his chest and at the spear of water in surprise, spat a glob of blood onto the ruined deck of the ship as his eyes rolled up into his skull and then was dragged underneath the waves by the same spear that pierced him.

Kreig's crew and the cooks alike we shocked into silence once again at the ease of which the stranger killed the 'Pirate Admiral'. "Now that's taken care of shall we continue?" Luffy asked, as he turned back to his opponent.

His answer was in the form of Mihawk fully drawing his blade and dashing towards Luffy with the intent to attack leaving Luffy without much time to react. However he did and simultaneously drew both his swords and blocked Mikhawk's downward slash, crouching slightly to take the pressure from the attack.

Many of the weaker observers were blown away due to the pressure that was exerted, so much so that waves were being created around the wreak age and the clouds had parted around the restaurant. The jaws had once again returned to the sea floor as they witnessed the two duellists clash anther dozen times in the time it took to blink.

After what seemed for hours they parted, both sliding apart from each other due to a recent contact. While not panting they were both breathing heavier than normal and sported a pattern of cuts each; however Luffy appeared worse off than his counterpart.

Mihawk smiled slightly, "You are better than you were before; I'm glad that you kept up your training." He complimented

Luffy smirked slightly as an answer, taking a few steps forward he broke into a run, intending to initiate the duel once more, on his terms this time.

Crouching low he swung up, however Mihawk parried it in time to block Luffy's follow up swing. Pushing back he counted by swiping in a blur towards Luffy's head, however he ducked in time and landed a slice on his abdomen forcing to him back up the time being.

Luffy kept up the pressure, pushing forward and swiping and stabbing at his opponent hoping to land a hit on him. Mihawk, ignoring his current injuries nimbly dodged round every attack and blocked what he couldn't.

Eventually Mihawk reached the edge of the wreckage, noticing this he decided to start pushing back and in a flurry of attacks the two were at it again becoming nothing than blurs to the spectators.

When they eventually become visible once again, one of Luffy's swords was sliding along the deck and he had Mihawk's sword pressed to his throat, drawing a small red line. Said man smiled, "Looks like I win again Luffy, though you made me work harder for it." He complimented again.

Luffy just raised an eyebrow and looked behind Mihawk. Feeling a point at the base of his spine he turned and saw a clone of Luffy crouched with a blade of water pressed against his back. Not panicked in the slightest he turned back to ask, "I thought I said no devil fruit powers?"

Luffy look scandalised for a moment, "Pirate?!" he said, almost accusingly, earning himself a chuckle from the man in front of him.

"Indeed." He said, withdrawing his blade and re-sheathing it on his back. He sighed, "Well I got what I wanted. I hope to see you in the Grand Line soon Luffy." With his part said, he walked to his small coffin like boat and sailed off.

"Well that happened..." Someone in the audience stated causing many to blink out of the daze they were in.

Luffy, oblivious to the chatter going on around him, walked over and picked up his discarded blade before sheathing both at his waist. Rolling his shoulders slightly and rubbing one of his more prominent cuts along his arm, he turned to the left over's of Kreig's crew. "Now, are we going to have any issues?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Said people frantically shook their heads from side to side in denial. Many of the onlookers thinking that they were scared of Luffy from his duel with Mihawk, however what they didn't know was that the water they were floating it was slowly and methodically tightening around their bodies as to make it harder from them to breath. It clearly worked.

"Good," He smiled, "Off you go then." He nodded his head in the direction opposite the Baratie looking expectantly at the pirates who just sent him confused looks. He gained a glint in his eye that many views grew concerned about. He raised a hand and wiggled his fingers at them, ginning he said, "Toodles." As a large wave swept them all up and carried them out to sea.

When they were nothing but specks in the distance someone finally spoke up, "THAT, WAS AMAZING!" a small yet incredibly excitable voice yelled out drawing everyone's attention to a grinning Maya, who had flopped over the side of a railing after her little outburst.

Luffy grinned good naturedly back at her before swaying slightly on his feet before catching himself. "Heh, must have used more energy than I thought..." He mumbled to himself before wincing slightly.

"Oi brat you alright?!" Zeff shouted from the restaurant.

"Gimmie a 5 course meal and I'll answer you then." Luffy groaned as he winced again, "Seems I missed a slash," He commented as he pulled open his coat, which bore witness to a rather deep cut running along his hip and part of his thigh. "Yep, that's gonna hurt for a while."

Using one of his swords for a crutch he walked, or rather limped, to the edge of the boat and mentally created a small disk of water to carry him across. He landed and slightly stumbled off Sanji catching him at the last minute, giving a nod of thanks he carried on walking, "Makino if you will, I seem to require first aid!" he called as he passed through the crowd.

It was with a sigh of relief that he sat down at one of the nearest tables. Maya had latched onto as soon as he did with small sniffles emanating from her when she realized how badly he was actually hurt. "er...Luffy?" A voice spoke from the door. "We have a problem."

"If you're telling me the fact that Nami is gone and she's taken the 'Going Merry' with her, than I already aware Makino." Luffy stated matter of factly.

"What?!" Was the rather startled response back.

"I felt her leavING" He explained, the end coming out with a grunt of pain when Maya, crawled onto his lap and brushed his fresh wound. Luffy merely wrapped his arms around her and rocked her slightly when she looked to burst out cry from hurting him further.

"Well the Merry was the closest vessel with medical supplies on it unless you want me to swim back the 'Oceans Freedom'." She told him.

"Talk to the chef's I'm sure they have some they can lend." Luffy suggested. Makino nodded her affirmative before walking to the nearest chef, who just happened to be Sanji.

Luffy relaxed more into his chair as the tiredness began creeping up on him. He looked down when he felt Maya slump against him, having fallen asleep due to the influx of emotions due the past minutes. Closing his eyes he lent his head against hers, smiling slightly when he felt her snuggle closer, he let himself relax even more than before.

Moments later he felt rather than saw, a presence sit opposite him keeping silent for the moment. "You know I wanted to fight him." The presence stated, it continued when it got a hum of affirmation, "So why didn't you let me?" it questioned

Luffy opened his eyes and the body of Zoro greeted him. "Because he was holding back even during our fight?" Luffy reviled. Zoro's eyes widened in both realization and fear, "You're chances of survival were in single digits. Besides I've got a job for you and I'd rather you not be injured for it." Luffy shrugged.

Zoro raised an eyebrow and lent forward onto the table in question, "What's the job?" He asked.

Luffy hissed when Makino had finally arrived to tend to his slash wound, "I'm sure you've realized a member of our crew is missing and said member has taken a rather vital part of our possessions. I want you to take Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku. Make your way back to the 'Oceans Freedom' and go after her. However be warned that she may be in league with Arlong so watch out. I will follow with Makino and Maya with hopefully a cook as well after I get this patched up and i'm able to walk unhindered." Luffy looked seriously into Zoro's eyes, "Can you do that First Mate?" He asked with a smirk.

Zoro gained a glint in his eyes and returned the smirk. "Aye Aye Captain."

Luffy raised an eyebrow at the man, "Well get going then." He ordered nodding his head in the direction of the door.

Getting the hint, Zoro was off like a shot grabbing a perplexed Usopp on his way by who had just walked in. Luffy could hear Zoro yelling at Johnny and Yosaku to get a move on as he got further away and smiled slightly.

Releasing a deep sigh, he let his head connect with Maya's once more and felt himself drift off into a dreamless sleep.

(line break)

Hours later Luffy was once again up and about after a test lap around the restaurant, and they were loading a small boat with supplies that Zeff had lent them. He had just finished tying up the last of the food when he felt an extra person board the craft.

Grinning slightly he asked, "What changed your mind?" as he stood up to face Sanji.

"That's none of your business _Captain._ " He replied lighting a smoke as he did so. However he did glance in the direction of the restaurant entrance where the rest of the chef's were standing to see them off.

Luffy smiled slightly when he worked out what happened. Turning he headed to the bow of the ship where Maya was milling about and put his hands on her shoulders to brace her. Moments later the small boat lurched forward surprising Sanji slightly as he stumbled causing Luffy to grin.

Maya let out a woop of glee as they sailed through the water to catch up to his wayward crew member.

No matter what she said, she was family now.

(line break)

And that's wrap! Sorry that it's shorter than others but as per usual life likes punching me in the gut. College assignments pilling up, then I got hit by a car AND I was forced to get a new computer when my last one packed up.

So tell me how the fight was and what I should do in regards to the fights. Read the top A/N for reference.

Also Merry Christmas and Happy New Year because that's probably when the next chap is coming out so look forward to that.

Cheers!

-Red


	11. Sorry! Gone Fishin!

The Rising Tides

So hello my faithful readers hope you had a good Christmas and New Year despite it probably being way past that when I upload this, but meh, semantics. Honestly there isn't much for me to say in this AN so I'll letting you get one with the story now :3.

"Talking"

 _'Thoughts'_

*Noises or Actions*

 **'Attacks'**

I don't own One Piece

* * *

Luffy lay at the stern of the ship relaxing, the use of his power kept the boat moving at a steady pace. His hat was settled over his face to block the sun light from reaching his eyes.

He felt a pressure shift on his chest as it fidgeted, lifting his head slightly to raise the hat, he gazed at the sleeping form of Maya. She had worn herself out again while playing earlier, and deemed his chest a comfortable enough spot to nap on.

Hearing footsteps approach, Luffy tilted his hat up which revealed the body of Makino bearing down on him.

Crouching down next to him she opened his coat to show the bandages that were stained a very pale pink showing he was bleeding slightly but no enough to be worried about. "How is it?" She asked pocking around the area slightly casing Luffy to hiss.

"It was fine before you poked it," He mumbled, after receiving a look from Makino he continued, "It's stiff but I don't feel any major pain."

Makino nodded, "Good, you should be able to fight then should the need arise."

"How close are we?" Luffy asked

"Not too far now, Sanji said he can see the island in the distance so a couple more hours at the rate we're currently going." She answered before standing and walking off.

Sighing Luffy shifted slightly into a more comfortable position to wait out the few remaining hours before they reached land.

* * *

Luffy shook himself awake, or rather was rudely awoken when their boat breached the bank of the island and he was thrown roughly forward.

Groaning for his now face down position on the deck, stood up and brushed himself down. Hearing giggling he looked up and spotted Maya and Makino standing a small distance away looking rather amused at his predicament.

Apart from a rather rude sea-cow when they were near the island the journey there was rather calm, giving Luffy much needed rest to recuperate from his fight with Hawky-chan. Stepping off the boat, Luffy rolled his shoulders to get some feeling back in them and sighed in relief.

"Well, what now Captain?" Sanji asked, stepping into view.

"Now we find our crew." He answered and closed his eyes. Using his haki he searched round the island looking for any of his members until he pinpointed Zoro's wandering aimlessly not far from where they were at the moment. "Ah, speak of the devil and he shall arrive. Come on!" He said disappearing into the forest.

* * *

Zoro was lost. I mean when was he not? Not that he'd ever admit that but that was besides the point. So when his captain, the blond haired curly eye-browed cook, the other cook and the crews resident kid stepped out the foliage directly beside him his was rather shocked to see them. Again, not like he'd ever admit that.

"Hello Zoro, safe journey I presume?" Luffy asked upon entering the clearing Zoro currently resided in.

"Well enough Captain. Yours?" He returned smirking slightly

"Meh, sea cows. You know how it is." Luffy replied striding past him to survey the area.

Zoro blinked at the answer but pushed it aside deciding to focus on the task at hand, "Ok, plan?"

Luffy shrugged, "Still working on it, where are the others?" he asked

"We got separated early on, still haven't found them." Zoro answered turning to face him.

Luffy hummed thoughtfully, and was about to speak again when a voice spoke up from the direction they just came from. "Usopp's dead." Johnny spoke up, walking up to them with Yosaku following behind.

"What?!" Makino managed to choke out, everyone else appeared in too much shock to answer.

"Bro Usopp is dead." Johnny said, he face downcast.

"How?" Zoro asked

"Nami, Nami killed him in cold blood." Yosaku spat, clearly angry and sad at the same time.

Luffy's eyes narrowed perplexed. Nami? She didn't seem the type to go around killing people, and Usopp at that.

"Are you serious?" Sanji asked, almost equally shocked, having not known Usopp as long as the others.

"We saw it with our own eyes." Yosaku confirmed, Johnny nodded along with him.

Luffy remained silent still deep in thought as the others squabbled between them. Others were less than willing to accept the news. Then something clicked, and a smile crossed his visage briefly. A small tug on his arm pulled him from his thoughts, looking down he spotted Maya looking up at him, confusion written in her eyes. Crouching down to her level he asked, "What is it?"

She was quiet for a moment as Luffy patiently awaited her, "She didn't really kill Usopp did she?" she asked, hurt now filling her eyes.

He smiled reassuringly and rubbed her head slightly, "No, I don't think she did." He told her.

The others apparently heard the little conversation that they had because Johnny spoke up again, "I know what I saw Luffy, she killed him and left his body to sink to the ocean floor."

"You should listen to your friend Luffy." A cold voice spoke up from behind him.

As one they spun round to face the voice, Nami it turned out to be. Luffy couldn't help but voice his thoughts, "Not that's it's not good to see you, _how_ did you find us...?" He asked rather perplexed.

She seemingly ignored the question, "Why are you here."

"What this spot, or this island." Luffy asked, amused.

"Both." Nami bit out.

"Well we came to the island for a nice holiday walk, and in this clearing the sun hits just perfect that's it's a nice spot to take a nap." And that's what he did, literally, just lay down where was standing, his straw hat settling over his eyes. "But if you must know I came to find a wayward crew member, don't suppose you've seen her? About your height, orange hair, seems to be obsessed with money." He asked teasingly.

She didn't answer and it seemed Johnny to that opportunity to speak up. "You killed brother Usopp, I saw you!" He yelled angrily pointing a finger in her direction.

"So? Go ahead, kill me. Take your revenge." She goaded in return.

Luffy scoffed from the ground, "You don't mean that." He said

"Oh yeah? Try m-" Her voice was cut short however due to the fact that blue watery chains now bound her body together, their point ends directly underneath her chin, ready to pierce at a moment's notice. It was rather familiar actually.

"Go ahead, tell me to finish it!" Luffy said, he voice taking a more serious turn, his hat lifted enough so that he could see her out the corner of his eye. She said nothing. Luffy scoffed again and the chains dissipated, "That's what I thought." His hat lowered, once again covering his eyes.

Without a second thought he caught the foot aimed in his direction curtsey of a rather pissed off cook, "How dare you threaten a lady such as Nami!" Sanji shouted in anger, apparently not even phased his attack was caught. "Heeelllooooo Nami-sawn~!" He immediately turned to Nami, "Do you remember me?!" He yelled/asked, hearts present in his eyes.

"Shut-up shitty cook!" Zoro shouted whacking Sanji round the head with one of his sheathed swords.

Moments later they were engaged in a grand battle, worthy of the feasting halls for many years to come. Or rather that's how they saw it.

"It doesn't matter, Usopp is dead, his body rotting on the ocean floor." Nami continued apparently over her near death, "Leave this place before Arlong finds you and kills all of you! You're an eyesore."

Luffy stretched, "Nah, I like it here. We'll go in our own time. I won't let King Fish Sticks scare us off." He waved her off.

Nami didn't answer, instead choosing to simply walk off.

"So what are we doing now?" Zoro asked

"You are standing, I am napping." Luffy said.

"Wait you were serious about that?!" Johnny exclaimed. Luffy murmured his approval but made no effort to move. He didn't have to wait long as a pressure settled on his chest and he felt a presence sit and then lay next to him. "Maya, Zoro, you too!?" He cried

"The captain's wish is my command." Was all he said, moments later he started snoring. Even Luffy was startled by how quickly he fell asleep.

"Well if you're staying here then we'll go and find something else to do." Johnny spoke as he walked off, Yosaku following diligently behind him.

"See you! Take care of yourselves!" Makino said, waving. Not that Luffy or Zoro saw it.

All was quiet for a moment apart from the rustling of the trees and the chirping of birds. "Do you think Nami really killed Usopp?" Maya asked again from Luffy's chest, the trembling present in her voice.

They were quiet for a moment until someone finally answered, "No, I can't see her doing it no matter how little time we've known her." Makino reassured.

"I agree, while she was acting strange earlier, she was acting. As hard as it was to spot it, in her eyes she was hurting inside." Luffy added.

"What do you mean?" Sanji asked curious

Before he could answer however a voice spoke from nearly right next to them, "GUYS! I'm glad I found you!" Startling the people next to it they reacted accordingly. The voice then proceeded to receive a foot in the face, a sheathed sword followed soon after and a multitude of spikes made out of water darted to towards him, barely stopping before they pierced his body. "H-h-eyy g-u-u-y-ss" The voice painfully muttered out.

"Usopp?" Zoro questioned, surprised at his sudden appearance.

"You're alive?!" Sanji continued for him, relief evident in his tone.

"Eh, not so sure now." Makino muttered as Usopp collapsed after the water spikes dissipated.

Luffy moved his hat up slightly as moments later Usopp magically recovered and began yelling at both Zoro and Sanji for trying to kill him, apparently disregarding the fact that he had also had a hand in that.

Luffy stood up after getting Maya off his chest and looked at Usopp with inquisitive eyes after he had stopped yelling and ranting, "How'd she do it?" He asked

Usopp blinked, "Do what?" He asked densely.

"How did she 'kill you'" He repeated with quotation marks

You could almost see the cogs turning inside his head when he answered. He then went on to explain how she had stabbed her hand to create the illusion of blood and let him escape through the ocean.

"So there's something happening here that someone isn't telling us." Makino thought.

"It doesn't matter anyway. It's no use!" ANOTHER voice spoke up from the edge of the clearing.

Luffy apparently couldn't take it anymore. "HOW DID YOU FIND EVEN FIND US?!" He yelled

The person now revelled to be a woman about the same height as Nami, blue hair, a striped button up shirt, a tattoo across her right arm leading onto her chest, blue jeans that reached her ankles and sandals; shrugged and pointed at Usopp. "I followed long nose here" The group blinked and turned to look at the man in question, who for his own looked rather meek.

Luffy nodded understandingly, "Who are you, and what did you mean it's no use?" He asked

"First off, i'm Nojiko, Nami's older sister. And I meant that Alrong's rule will never end." She answered in order. "Just please leave her alone, I'll explain everything if you just go!" She pleaded

"What, you'll explain why she like that?" Makino asked

Nojiko sighed, "Yes but only if you leave after. There is nothing you can do here." She pleaded again.

She was startled however when Luffy walked straight past her without a care in the world, "Meh, I'll pass on that," and disappeared into the forest.

* * *

It was an interesting walk he went on, meet a few fish men that were dumber than Usopp, stumbled upon a ratty faced marine captain in the village and now here he was resting underneath a tree.

That was until screams of panic and worry interrupted his nap. Rather rudely he might add. Deciding not to interrupt he stood and lent against the tree to watch the on goings.

The crowd eventually parted showing Nojiko laying on the ground clutching her stomach with presumably a doctor kneeling over her. Suddenly someone burst out of the ground and rushed in the direction away from the village. From the flash of orange he presumed it to be Nami.

Moments later with Nojiko carried off, he watched the townsfolk arrange into sloppy military styled lines as he felt the presence of the crew approaching the outskirts to the village.

A man walked to the front of the crowd and proceeded to make a rousing speech about finally toppling Arlong, but was interrupted by the re-emergence of Nami. This time she had tears in her eyes and put on a clearly fake happy demeanour. She claimed that she could get the money in half the time, the next go around. However it seemed to have no effect of the 'leader' as he marched of anyway with the villagers following behind.

Nami stood still as they walked away, apparently in too much shock to do much else. She soon collapsed to her knees, anger and fury filling her eyes, replacing the defeat and helplessness present before. Gripping the knife she that had previously dropped she repeatedly stabbed at her tattoo on her shoulder, cursing Arlong as she did so. Well until a grip around her wrist stopped her.

Surprised she turned to find the culprit being Luffy, standing over her. An eyebrow raised. The grip on the knife slackened and it slipped from her grip, clattering to the ground once more. Sobs wracked her body as she tried to contain them. "Why?" She asked, "Why are you still here!?" She yelled her fists beating against his chest as she released the anger pent up through years of sadness and abuse.

Luffy bent down and curled Nami's body into his own after the 'attack' battered off into nothingness. "I know, didn't feel like leaving just yet." He answered.

Nami's body shook, "Luffy..." She whimpered against his chest. "Please help me."

Luffy chuckled slightly and lent down further so that his mouth was in line with her ear, "You could have just asked." He teased. He stood and looked down at Nami as tears flowed down her face uncontrollably. Shrugging off his coat and folding it he handed it to her and then settled his hat on her head. "Look after these for me would you?" He asked as he walked past her towards the rest of the crew standing a little ways away from them. "Makino, Maya. Take care of her, the rest of you!" He called. "We're going on a little fishing trip!"

* * *

Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Usopp walked along the path towards Arlong Park that was now steadily coming into view. As they did so I become evident that somthing was up because the villagers that had valiantly charged ahead to attack Arlong were gathered outside of the gates that appeared to be locked shut or at least no one had bothered opening them yet.

"There, they're coming!" Someone yelled. At their call the crowd parted down the middle allowing a straight path towards the gates to be formed. This also served to reveal the reason why the crowd was gathered outside the gates, because Johnny and Yosaku were sat down in front of the gates apparently barring entry to the park for reasons unknown to them at the time. When the two men recognised the crew walking towards them they immediately stood and stepped aside shouting encouragement as they walked past.

Just as they were nearing the gate Luffy clenched one of his fists and imbued it with Haki, turning it black as it went to work reinforcing his arm. When he felt the haki take hold he threw out his arm and crashed it against the doors of Arlong's park causing it to cave immediately. Dust and debris filled the parks plaza, and Luffy waited for it to clear before walking forward.

Dozens of fishmen awaited him on the other side looking curiously as to why suddenly their front door was gone. The one however that drew Luffy attention the most was a larger red fishman sitting on a throne just in front of the main building.

Luffy and the others stopped in the centre of the plaza surrounded by the fishmen who had all their weapons out. "Are you Arlong?" Luffy asked with an impassive gaze and the fishman seated on the throne.

"So what if I am? What do y-" The newly confirmed Arlong never completed his sentence however as a fist the size of his own body made from water impacted him, sending him flipping over his seat and into the building behind him, creating a sizeable hole in the process.

The other fishmen was so surprised by this that when he went strolling after him whistling a jauntily tune they didn't do anything to stop him. "Zoro, Sanji, Usopp. I leave everything to you. Oh before I forget." He order before releasing a wave of conquers haki, which made all of the weaker fishmen to collapse knocked out apart from three that were standing and presumably Arlong.

After Luffy disappeared through the hole in the wall the others got ready to fight, Zoro drew his swords, Sanji put out his cigarette and Usopp pulled out his sling shot, although his legs were shaking.

* * *

Luffy entered but looked like a lobby just as Arlong was getting up after his meeting with a giant fist. He didn't looked worse for wear apart from the fact that his long nose was slightly bent in the wrong direction.

"Who are you?" Arlong asked, hatred evident in his voice.

"Oh, I'm Luffy. Future Pirate King." Luffy stated, not even fazed by the lack of damage on Arlong's body.

Arlong grinned toothily, "Pirate eh? I assume you're after Nami then?" He questioned while slowly advancing on Luffy.

"You assume correctly." He answered, readying himself.

Arlong stopped as he burst into laughter, "That's too bad; she's mine and mine alone!" He roared before launching himself at Luffy, who dodged out the way and kicked him in the stomach as he flew past, causing him to fly back in the direction he came and though another few walls behind him.

Luffy strode after him, stopping momentarily to pick a saw blade along the way he assumed to be Arlong's. When he eventually caught up with Arlong, when was face up lying on a pile of rubble catching his breath from the strength of the kick he just received.

Luffy walked past him, dropping the blade as he went, and drew 'Tsunami' before turning to face the fishman who was just now picking himself up of the floor. "Come on fish sticks, where's that fishman strength that those people were so afraid of?!" Luffy taunted.

"You damn human!" Arlong yelled; spittle flying from his mouth as his did so. He came at Luffy swinging his saw blade wildly and without form. Luffy dealt with this simply enough, dodging the wilding swings and blocking those his he felt like, he didn't feeling the need to use his devil fruit for this.

After a minute or two the chance to strike came as Arlong over extended after Lufyf dodged out the way. Taking the opportunity he used 'Tsunami' to move Arlongs swords further away and using his free hand threw and uppercut at his chin causing him to be launch up through the ceiling. Hearing a clattering, Luffy turned and saw that the sudden change in momentum caused Arlong to drop his sword on the ground. Smirking he walked until his was underneath the hole before sheathing 'Tsunami' once more and muttered, **'Mizu Mizu: Jettosutoimu'** and shot up through the hole Arlong just created.

Landing on the top floor, he immediately became water as Arlong passed straight through him, spinning madly, because Luffy wasn't solid at the time, Arlong continued on until he hit the other end of the room with a loud crash.

Now that there wasn't flying fish coming at him, Luffy took time to study the room they ended up in. It was rather small, leading him to believe they were either near or at the top of the building. The room was filled with stacks of paper nearly as high as the ceiling a desk once stood in the centre of the room, however it was split in the middle after a certain fish went flying into it on his grand adventure to the other side of the room. Walking over to the broken remains of the desk he picked up a pen from the ground covered is a suspiciously red substance. Nami's _blood_ he realized.

A dark chuckle echoed behind him, "I see you've noticed." Arlong said. Luffy turned to him just as he yanked out a few teeth that immediately re-grew, "This is Nami's room, where she creates all her maps and charts. This room is her happiness! Her life!" He yelled possessively.

Luffy's grip on the pen tightened with each word, so much so that cracks soon began to be seen on the pen from the pressure being put on it.

"Her talent with navigation is probably the best in the world right now, she would be wasted on your crew!" Arlong continued to yell, "By using her talent in cartography I COULD RULE THE SEAS!" he began cackling madly.

Luffy's eyes darkened, "Use...?" He whispered

Arlong grinned manically, "Yes use!"

The pen in Luffy's hand finally snapped under the strain, "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?" He yelled furiously before drop kicking the remains of the desk past Arlong's shocked visage and directly through the wall behind him.

Arlong was so shocked at the sudden change in tone that when Luffy went on a rampage through the room he didn't even register that fact until he was finished. "My charts! 8 years worth of charts ruined!" He rounded on Luffy and swung a fist, only now realising that he was missing his sword, who dodged and countered with his own fist launching Arlong to the corner of the room. "Bastard!" He yelled again, **'Same no Ha'** spinning as he launched himself at Luffy standing calmly in the centre of the room.

Luffy didn't flinch as he watched Arlong fly towards him, reinforcing his arms with haki he struck at Arlong when he was inches from impacting his body, rocketing him down the floors that they had just gone up until he landed heavily on the ground floor where they had started.

Luffy stood at the edge of the newly created hole in the floor and gathered the powers of his devil fruit, **'Mizu Mizu: Ryujin's Denka!'** he yelled, a great ball of water formed and charged downwards towards Arlong, slowly changing into a head of a dragon just as it impacted the body of Arlong, a loud roar erupting as it did so, drowning out the shouts of pain from the now incapacitated fishman. Get it? Drowning? ...ok I'll just leave.

As Luffy stood, revelling in his rather easily attained victory, the building started to shake and rock unsteadily. Creaking and cracking soon grew in tempo and Luffy had no warning when the building collapsed around him.

* * *

A crowd of people stood watching as the building collapsed a mix of emotions present, euphoria at finally being free of Arlong and worry as they did not see Luffy exit before it went down. Murmuring grew as they watched the rubble. Zoro, Sanji and Usopp stood to one side along with Makino, Maya and Nami who had turned up after their own battles had been won.

"What's happening? Where is he?" Maya asked worriedly, eyes wondering around the pile of rubble.

They continued to watch the pile of rubble in silence, when their eyes were suddenly drawn to the top of the pile where the rubble started shifting. When moments later Luffy emerged from the top of the pile much like a mole would, covered in dust, the whole crowd gave a loud cheer at seeing he was ok.

Coughing out a small plume of dust, Luffy stood and stumbled down the side of the little hill that had be formed rather ungracefully. Granted he had been inside a building while it was collapsing so it was ignored.

Regaining his balance at the bottom he coughed a few times and blinked trying to get rid of some dust in his eyes. He looked up at the crowd in front of him as he finished brushing himself off. "What? Is there something on my face?" He asked when he noticed everyone staring at him. That seemed to knock everyone out of their staring. Only then did they once again break out into cheers, they all began rushing towards Luffy. Pats on the back, hugs and kisses on the cheek went around. All the village's populace thanking him for helping them get rid of the fishman's rule. If one could call it that.

Their celebrations quieted down, after awhile and a small path appeared, heading towards his crewmates. Nami included. Smiled and shrugged towards them. "For future reference I wouldn't recommend being inside a building while it's collapsing." He suggested

"Really? Who'd thunk it?" Makino replied sarcastically.

That was all it took for Maya to burst out laughing as she ran towards Luffy, who bent down to scoop her up in his arms. She laughed more when he span around in circles while holding her above his head but pouted when he stopped. She was partially satisfied when he placed her on his shoulders instead of the ground.

Luffy looked towards where Zoro, Sanji and Usopp where standing. "How was fishing?" he asked, walking towards them.

Sanji shrugged and lit a smoke, "Productive." He answered simply, the others nodding in somewhat agreement.

"Good." Luffy nodded as well before turning to Nami and smiling softly. His straw hat perched on her head and his coat bundled in her arms. He walked towards her but didn't say anything and simply opened his arms.

Tears sprung up in Nami's eyes and she walked forward and buried herself into the crook of his neck and let the tears go. She felt Luffy's head rest beside her own and heard him whispered in her ear. "You are part of my crew Nami. But most importantly you are my friend, that's I'll always be there to help you should you ever need it. You just need to ask and I will be there." Finally the dam broke, and Nami realized her emotions that she had been holding back for years, and Luffy just held her through it.

* * *

Luffy stretched as he walked out of his cabin and glanced at the sky. Judging by the sun's position it was almost noon, they should be moving off then if they wanted to arrive at Loguetown on time. Walking down into the mess he saw everyone was already up though he noticed a distinct lack of someone there. "Where's Nami?" He asked as he helped himself to some leftovers that was present from the party last night.

"Saying her goodbyes I think." Zoro answered, a bottle of sake already in his hand.

Luffy nodded in understanding and sat down to eat. The crew making small talk as they finished eating. When they did so they proceeded up stairs back onto the deck as they witnessed a crowd had appeared on the small dock to see them off.

They prepared the ship to set sail as they waited for Nami to show up but they didn't have to wait long as a mop of orange appeared on the horizon running towards them. She appeared to be in quite the hurry to the confusion of many and didn't slow in the slightest as she reached the crowd.

"SET SAIL!" She yelled through the mess of people as she barged and pushed her way through, uncaring of the confusion she was causing.

Luffy shrugged in an unabashed manner, "YOU HEARD THE NAVIGATOR! LOOSE THE SAILS, PREAPARE TO LEAVE DOCK!" He ordered with a grin. He also created a few clones to speed things along.

Nami dived aboard at the last minute, just as the ship left the range of the dock with a grin and brushed herself off.

"Why the rush?" Makino asked with an amused tone. Nami just grinned broader and upturned her shirt causing a small tidal wave of wallets and jewellery to come out onto the deck. It seemed at that point the villagers noticed what happened as well and started shouting obscenities, but there wasn't any heart in them.

Luffy just shook his head and smiled.

* * *

Sorry for the long wait, I had intended to get this out by the end of Feb but when I was half way through to received word from my college that I was falling behind on my assignments and that I was at risk of failing if I didn't pick up the slack soon. So this had to go on the back burner for a while until I got that sorted out.

After that I just didn't have any inspiration to write for a month or two after that until recently so I thank you for sticking with me and being patient while I do things. So thank you for that.

Other than that I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you in the next one.

-Red

 **Translations**

 **Mizu Mizu: Jettostoimu – Water Water Jet stream**

 **Same no Ha – Shark on Tooth**

 **Mizu Mizu: Ryujin's Denka – Ryujin's Charge**


End file.
